tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26416634937609226802024-03-04T22:08:20.005-06:00Sustainable Options for YouthFrom 1997 to 2019, we did direct outreach in the public high schools in Austin, Texas as an alternative to military recruitment in the schools. We are committed to the use and advocacy of nonviolence. Our group has included students, teachers, activists, veterans and parents.
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Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.comBlogger405125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-51463627259460522522023-05-23T17:05:00.000-05:002023-05-23T17:05:04.866-05:00Americorps Recruitment Fair coming up in Austin<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0K2NY2XDoDojcMdjgqanK9BTZly0q2rSg2uH2jcUqoT92VaF4u4J_YmKTwr7CqLfPghlzbLdGetJiYaCPlQPGc6H-DwlUSayC1D95lQpL3X5kzjSN2iZfYEaix4cAJl7UCyg2OI2lwfuJxn646_jSQ2mT7r38kM-iQDoKh1GrSkQiaFBAlIU3MyhROQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="526" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0K2NY2XDoDojcMdjgqanK9BTZly0q2rSg2uH2jcUqoT92VaF4u4J_YmKTwr7CqLfPghlzbLdGetJiYaCPlQPGc6H-DwlUSayC1D95lQpL3X5kzjSN2iZfYEaix4cAJl7UCyg2OI2lwfuJxn646_jSQ2mT7r38kM-iQDoKh1GrSkQiaFBAlIU3MyhROQ" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-69228222266294164622021-05-31T07:43:00.002-05:002021-05-31T07:43:32.295-05:00<p> From the New York Times, May 29, 2021</p><p><br /></p><div style="margin: 0px;"><div class="yiv5797821641css-1vkm6nb yiv5797821641ehdk2mb0" style="margin: 0px;"><h1 class="yiv5797821641css-15m43iq yiv5797821641e1h9rw200" id="yiv5797821641link-6ffcef32">The Way of the Conscientious Objector</h1></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="yiv5797821641byline-prefix">By </span><span class="yiv5797821641css-1baulvz yiv5797821641last-byline" itemprop="name">Rowan Moore Gerety</span></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div class="yiv5797821641css-1sowyjy" style="margin: 0px;"><div class="yiv5797821641css-153b69v yiv5797821641epjyd6m1" style="margin: 0px;"><div class="yiv5797821641css-1l3nmlr yiv5797821641epjyd6m0" style="margin: 0px;"><div class="yiv5797821641css-8atqhb" style="margin: 0px;"><p class="yiv5797821641css-1hqgqgn yiv5797821641e1wtpvyy0" style="margin: 0px;">Mr. Moore Gerety is a freelance reporter and audio producer.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="yiv5797821641css-1fanzo5 yiv5797821641StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px;"><div class="yiv5797821641css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px;"><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">It was a book of Buddhist parables that put Michael Rasmussen over the edge. In March 2017, Mr. Rasmussen was living near a naval base in Japan, six years into training as a Marine pilot, reading and experimenting with meditation.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">One morning as he prepared for a supply flight to Hawaii, Mr. Rasmussen kept returning to the story he’d read in bed the night before in “Path of Compassion,” by Thich Nhat Hanh, in which the Buddha was out begging when he was nearly mugged by a notorious criminal. Instead of robbing the Buddha, the mugger confessed to a life of murder and mayhem and asked him for advice: “What good act could I possibly do?”</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">“Stop traveling the road of hatred and violence,” the Buddha said. “That would be the greatest act of all.”</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Mr. Rasmussen got in his car to drive to the hangar, overwhelmed with what he called an “immense feeling of dread.” The story haunted him: “Am <em class="yiv5797821641css-2fg4z9 yiv5797821641e1gzwzxm0">I </em>on the road of hatred and violence?” he wondered. He decided then and there to leave the Marines.</p></div></div><div class="yiv5797821641css-1fanzo5 yiv5797821641StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px;"><div class="yiv5797821641css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px;"><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">But there was a catch: He still had six years left on his contract. In the weeks to come he would embark on the path to becoming a conscientious objector, a status that allows soldiers to leave the military early because of a change in their beliefs about war.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Some <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/veterans" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">2.7 million</a> American service members have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of our “forever wars” in 2001. <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2015/02/american-military-deserters-canada.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">Tens of thousands</a> have gone AWOL. Countless others have finished out their service disenchanted and depressed, or turned to drugs and alcohol to ease re-entry into a society that would rather ignore war’s moral injuries, often losing their benefits in the process. After seeing the horrors of war and the contradictions of American foreign policy up close, many enlisted men and women are compelled to re-examine the ideals that first drew them to military service.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Very few soldiers, however, take the path that Mr. Rasmussen eventually did.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">The military has been reluctant to publish official figures on conscientious objection. The most recent numbers available are from a Government Accountability Office <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/gao/d071196.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">report published in 2007</a>, which found that on average fewer than 100 applicants a year from 2002 to 2006 — roughly half of them were approved. After that, the data is hard to find. The <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://centeronconscience.org/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">Center on Conscience and War</a> advises only a subset of applicants for conscientious objector status, but as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq dragged on, the caseload of the center doubled, its executive director, Maria Santelli, told me. She believes the actual number of annual applicants in recent years is closer to 200.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Though the act of conscientious objection arose historically in response to conscription — a mandatory draft — both Mr. Rasmussen’s story, and the vanishing scarcity of conscientious objectors overall today, raise an important question about the notion of our ostensibly all-volunteer military: How many American soldiers would become conscientious objectors if the process was more transparent, if they were more aware it was actually an option?</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Military contracts require 18-year-olds with little knowledge of war to make commitments that sometimes last more than a decade. At the height of the Iraq war, the Pentagon offered signing bonuses as high as $50,000, and enacted a “stop loss” policy to extend service for tens of thousands of troops, prolonging their deployments just as their contracts were set to end.<br /></p></div><div class="yiv5797821641css-j64t31" id="yiv5797821641c-col-editors-picks" style="margin: 0px;"><div id="yiv5797821641pp_edpick-wrapper" style="margin: 0px;"><br /></div></div></div><div class="yiv5797821641css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px;"><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Are these the hallmarks of a voluntary commitment? Allowing soldiers more leeway to vote with their feet would be one way to impose accountability on political leaders who have kept us at war longer than some recruits have been alive.</p><div class="yiv5797821641css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px;"><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">The rules governing conscientious objection present a narrow target: Soldiers can’t argue that they disagree with a particular war, or don’t want to fight under a certain general. The core requirement is opposition to “<a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.marines.mil/portals/1/Publications/MCO%201306.16F.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">war in any form</a>,” a belief that is firm, fixed and sincerely held. And that belief has to have been arrived at <em class="yiv5797821641css-2fg4z9 yiv5797821641e1gzwzxm0">after </em>your enlistment.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">The first formal protections for conscientious objectors emerged with the military draft during the Civil War. During World War I, Mennonites, Quakers and members of other “peace churches” were allowed to work as army medics or cooks rather than soldiers. Those who objected altogether were subject to trial at military tribunals; thousands were imprisoned and many were tortured — shackled in solitary confinement, hung by their thumbs, or stripped of their clothes and sprayed with cold water if they declined to wear military uniforms.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">It wasn’t until 1962 that the Department of Defense initiated an administrative process to allow conscientious objectors to leave the military after enlistment. By 1970, the Vietnam-era Supreme Court case, <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1969/76" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">Welsh v. United States</a>, allowed service members to claim conscientious objector status on secular grounds as well.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">The most famous cases of conscientious objection were initially seen as illegitimate. In 1967, Muhammad Ali was convicted of draft evasion, fined $10,000 and sentenced to five years in prison; it took four years for his case to be <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/29/archives/ali-wins-in-draft-case-appeal-calling-up-of-boxer-ruled-improper.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">overturned</a> by the Supreme Court. Nearly a half-century later, Stephen Funk, a Marine Corps reservist and the first soldier to publicly claim conscientious objector status in the Iraq war, spent five months in military detention for failing to report to his unit in the lead-up to the invasion.</p><div class="yiv5797821641css-1fanzo5 yiv5797821641StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px;"><div class="yiv5797821641css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px;"><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Today, requesting <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.army.mil/article/4267/conscientious_objectors" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">1-O status</a>, as becoming a conscientious objector is known in the military, kicks off a demanding process. Applicants outline their beliefs in essays, and an investigating officer, of higher rank but not in the chain of command, asks peers to weigh in on their character. There’s a psychiatric evaluation and an interview with a military chaplain. Mindful of the hazing and ridicule that plagued conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War, Michael Rasmussen decided that until he actually finished his application, he wouldn’t even tell his own family.</p></div></div><div class="yiv5797821641css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px;"><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">I met Mr. Rasmussen in 2018 through my father — a conscientious objector to the draft himself — who knew his parents. My father had filed his own request for conscientious objector status as a fervent Catholic during the Vietnam War, months before his 18th birthday.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">By the time his number came up in the lottery, he’d lost his faith and led antiwar protests in college. He submitted a revised letter to the draft board as an earnest first-year law student, primed to debate whether the conflict in Vietnam constituted a just war. Opposition to unjust wars wasn’t considered a legitimate objection, but it hardly mattered: The man at the draft board knew my father’s father, and he seemed impressed that one of his references came from my dad’s future father-in-law, a bishop in the Episcopal Church.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">I’ve never been able to imagine what my father might have been like if he’d gone to Vietnam. To me, his opposition to war seemed utterly fixed. So I was intrigued by my father’s description of Michael Rasmussen: someone who’d enlisted in the Marines, only to become a pacifist by reading philosophy.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">When we met for breakfast, I worried Mr. Rasmussen wouldn’t want to share his story so publicly, but by the time I got home, he’d emailed me his entire 47-page conscientious objector file, which he’d submitted in 2017. On Marine Corps letterhead, Mr. Rasmussen’s short essays of conscience followed clinical prompts, and were bundled with character references and interviews with fellow officers.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">“After countless sleepless nights and hours in thought, I am no longer able to reconcile my personal idea of what it means to live a good life with that of being part of an organization whose goal it is to end human life,” Mr. Rasmussen wrote. “Who are we to decide who must live and who must die?”</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Michael Rasmussen signed up for the Marines while he was still in high school, out of a vague sense of duty and a burning desire to become a pilot, with a contract that gave him a free ride to college and firm commitments for the next 15 years of his life. His first extended military training came in 2011, between his junior and senior years at Villanova, at the Marine Corps officer candidate school in Quantico, Va.</p><div class="yiv5797821641css-1fanzo5 yiv5797821641StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px;"><div class="yiv5797821641css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px;"><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Mr. Rasmussen, 30, has the slight, muscular build of a jockey or the long-distance runner he is. He’s direct and unfailingly polite, with a disarming manner that blends earnestness and sharp wit. When we met, he recalled officer candidate school as an exercise in willpower and sleep deprivation, often presented in the form of games. Recruits raced to pack and unpack their gear 10 times in a row. Told to “touch the fence, again,” they sprinted through muddy fields in the dark until they collapsed. Mr. Rasmussen enjoyed the camaraderie of shared exhaustion.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">He returned to Quantico after college for the Basic School, where newly commissioned officers are trained, and he was pleased to find that the Marine Corps also prided itself on its intellectual tradition. The future defense secretary Jim Mattis, who was then the highest-ranking Marine, famously embodied the view of soldiers as “warrior-scholars.” When a commander suggested every Marine should read “Meditations” by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, Mr. Rasmussen started right away.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Written as a journal while Marcus Aurelius was away on military campaigns, the core lesson of “Meditations” is of the power of self-reflection — “for the soul is dyed by the thoughts,” he <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.5.five.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">wrote</a>. Mr. Rasmussen had tried keeping a journal before, but he was amazed that the man at the head of an empire grappled with “all the same doubts we have” — the opinions of others, the soundness of our daily habits — and the insight inspired him to try again.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">In his conscientious objector file, Mr. Rasmussen wrote that the Basic School amounted to six months of being “inundated with training on how to kill,” from hand-to-hand martial arts exercises to lectures on deploying violence against an entire platoon. But it was also the period when he began to think deeply about the commitments underlying his military service.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">“As I thought more about the act of killing, I was able to explain it away,” Mr. Rasmussen told me — with the idea that being a pilot would keep him close to the cause but far from the action.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Still, when he read “On Killing,” a popular study of the psychology of violence by a retired Army lieutenant colonel, Dave Grossman, which figures on the Marine Corps’ list of required reading, Mr. Rasmussen zeroed in on Colonel Grossman’s argument that much of military training is essentially a means to short-circuit the innate human aversion to killing. For the first time, Mr. Rasmussen wondered not only if he <em class="yiv5797821641css-2fg4z9 yiv5797821641e1gzwzxm0">could </em>kill, but in what circumstances he <em class="yiv5797821641css-2fg4z9 yiv5797821641e1gzwzxm0">should</em>.</p></div></div><div class="yiv5797821641css-1fanzo5 yiv5797821641StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px;"><div class="yiv5797821641css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px;"><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">In his downtime during training, Mr. Rasmussen read Kant, Nietzsche, Thoreau and Emerson and gave up alcohol and meat; even as he remained far from combat, military service was drawing his ideals into focus.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">After deploying with his squadron to Japan, Mr. Rasmussen returned to the Marine Corps’ foundational <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.marines.mil/News/Publications/MCPEL/Electronic-Library-Display/Article/899837/mcdp-1/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">text</a>, “Warfighting,” for the first time in five years, and found it impossible to read the book as it was meant to be read. “Warfighting”<em class="yiv5797821641css-2fg4z9 yiv5797821641e1gzwzxm0"> </em>presented<em class="yiv5797821641css-2fg4z9 yiv5797821641e1gzwzxm0"> </em>war not as love, hate, revenge and power, but friction, fluidity, uncertainty, disorder. An enemy is “a collection of targets to be engaged and destroyed systematically.”</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">In a journal he kept at the time, Mr. Rasmussen described his quandary as a “quarter life crisis.” He seemed to be leading parallel lives, each shaped by an ethic of discipline and self-improvement, yet completely at odds with one another. Always a loner, he was becoming more withdrawn from his fellow soldiers by the day. Philosophy seemed to follow him everywhere.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Watching the cartel thriller “Sicario” brought forth a dark meditation on just war: “Would I volunteer to die in Vietnam? No. Iraq? Hell, no. Korea? Possibly, but that is only because of the 20-20 hindsight” about the trajectory of North Korea. Mr. Rasmussen had finally made up his mind. “I no longer want to be in the military,” he wrote. “If they offered me an out tomorrow, I would take it.”</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">That day in March, Mr. Rasmussen drove to the hangar overtaken by a kind of existential nausea. For months, he’d been looking for a way to end his contract “without getting thrown in jail,” but there didn’t seem to be any good options. Mr. Rasmussen was an atheist raised in an atheist household; he had no idea there was a narrow allowance for secular objections of conscience. Then, as he awaited clearance for takeoff from Hawaii back to Japan, he hit upon the website of the Center on Conscience and War.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Despite his confidence in his decision, submitting the application seemed to leave Mr. Rasmussen disoriented. “I had just finished admitting to myself that everything I knew was wrong,” he told me.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">In August, as his application worked its way up the chain of command, Mr. Rasmussen had a dream that he had run over a group of people that included Japanese civilians while taxiing in a C-130, then gotten out of the plane sobbing.</p></div></div><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Finally, in October, the news came through: His application was approved.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">The triggers that inspire soldiers to pursue conscientious objection are wide-ranging: Some become vegans for health reasons, then find that it affects their entire worldview. New parents gain a different view of the sanctity of life. Specific atrocities sometimes set off an outpouring of new applicants, as when a U.S. airstrike hit a Doctors Without Borders <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/25/world/asia/errors-us-airstrike-afghan-kunduz-msf-hospital.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">hospital in Afghanistan</a> in 2015. Two soldiers who fought under <a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/us/soldier-gets-life-without-parole-in-deaths-of-afghan-civilians.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">Robert Bales</a>, now serving life in prison for the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians in 2012, subsequently became conscientious objectors.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Recently, after seeing the heavy-handed federal response to protests over police brutality during the summer of 2020, a Navy officer called Ms. Santelli at the Center on Conscience and War, saying, “I’m not the guy with my knee on George Floyd’s neck, but I am the guy with his back turned on the scene with his hands in his pockets.”</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">Mr. Rasmussen believes the window for conscientious objection ought to be widened, and the burden of proof relaxed, so that our voluntary service could account for more modest shifts in perspective and circumstance. Before he submitted his application, he worried that it might bring ridicule from his peers. Instead, he said, many quietly approached him to talk about their own misgivings with the way the United States wields military power.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">“If, tomorrow, we ended military contracts,” he told me, “I can only imagine the number of people that would voluntarily get out.”</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-axufdj yiv5797821641evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px;">A soldier’s willingness to give life for country is a profound act of trust; we should honor their commitment by trusting enlisted men and women to tell us they’ve changed their minds, and give them a way to act on it.</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-pncxxs yiv5797821641etfikam0" style="margin: 0px;"><a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.rowanmg.com/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">Rowan Moore Gerety</a> is a freelance reporter and audio producer and the author of “<a class="yiv5797821641css-1g7m0tk" href="https://thenewpress.com/books/go-tell-crocodiles" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" title="">Go Tell the Crocodiles: Chasing Prosperity in Mozambique</a>.”</p><p class="yiv5797821641css-pncxxs yiv5797821641etfikam0" style="margin: 0px;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /></p></div></div></div></div>Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-85782225894863719592020-10-17T07:39:00.000-05:002020-10-17T07:39:01.925-05:00Are you being recruited through online gaming?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAwhfyoITC4GYrG8USCIEsTolLD9pXLjXYgROek_SEniSWi9B_miS0920-ovXSimq_VRfHQUYmCoL6HDGpAewpDj2kP8yP-yMub7FUPr3LF1RMKpJdU4GDklgJZusQ4lY-drFocVX_Owr/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="411" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAwhfyoITC4GYrG8USCIEsTolLD9pXLjXYgROek_SEniSWi9B_miS0920-ovXSimq_VRfHQUYmCoL6HDGpAewpDj2kP8yP-yMub7FUPr3LF1RMKpJdU4GDklgJZusQ4lY-drFocVX_Owr/w411-h411/image.png" width="411" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-82880977631771160612020-09-29T21:41:00.003-05:002020-09-29T21:41:28.429-05:00Truth in Recruitment carries on during Covid<p> Excellent article posted today in Antiwar.com by Kate Connell and Fred Nadis about the work of Truth in Recruitment, a group like SOY in Santa Barbara, CA:</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.7em;">Counter-Recruitment in the Time of Covid</span></p><footer class="entry-footer" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #686868; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.61538; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;"><span class="byline" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline;"><span class="screen-reader-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); height: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal !important; overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; width: 1px;"></span>by <a class="author url fn" href="https://original.antiwar.com/author/kate_connell/" rel="author" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #686868; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Posts by Kate Connell">Kate Connell</a> and <a class="author url fn" href="https://original.antiwar.com/author/fred_nadis/" rel="author" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #686868; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Posts by Fred Nadis, Truth in Recruitment">Fred Nadis, Truth in Recruitment</a></span> <span class="posted-on" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span class="screen-reader-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); height: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal !important; overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; width: 1px;">Posted on</span><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/kate_connell/2020/09/28/counter-recruitment-in-the-time-of-covid/" rel="bookmark" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #686868; text-decoration-line: none;"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2020-09-28T21:00:00-07:00" style="box-sizing: inherit;">September 29, 2020</time></a></span></footer><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(209, 209, 209); box-sizing: inherit; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">In 2016-17, the U.S. Army visited Santa Maria High School and nearby Pioneer Valley High School in California over 80 times. The Marines visited Ernest Righetti High School in Santa Maria over 60 times that year. One Santa Maria alumnus commented, “It’s as if they, the recruiters, are on staff.” A parent of a high school student at Pioneer Valley commented, "I consider recruiters on campus talking to 14 year olds as "grooming" young people to be more open to recruitment in their senior year. I want my daughter to have more access to college recruiters and for our schools to promote peace and nonviolent solutions to conflict."</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">This is a sample of what high schools, particularly in rural areas, experience nationwide, and the difficulty of confronting the presence of military recruiters on campus. While our nonprofit counter-recruitment group, <a href="https://truthinrecruitment.org/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #990000; text-decoration-line: none;">Truth in Recruitment</a>, based in Santa Barbara, California, views such military access as beyond excessive, as far as the military is concerned, now that the pandemic has closed campuses, those were the good old days. The Air Force’s Recruiting Service Commander, Maj. Gen. Edward Thomas Jr., commented to a journalist at <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/09/16/high-school-closures-during-pandemic-could-harm-military-recruiting-goals-general-says.html" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #990000; text-decoration-line: none;">Military.com</a>, that the Covid-19 pandemic and high school shutdowns nationwide have made recruiting more difficult than previously.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">Thomas stated that in-person recruiting at high schools was the highest yield way to recruit teenagers. “Studies that we’ve done show that, with face-to-face recruiting, when somebody is actually able to talk to a living, breathing, sharp Air Force [noncommissioned officer] out there, we can convert what we call leads to recruits at about an 8:1 ratio,” he said. “When we do this virtually and digitally, it’s about a 30:1 ratio.” With closed recruiting stations, no sporting events to sponsor or appear at, no hallways to walk, no coaches and teachers to groom, no high schools to show up at with trailers loaded with militarized video games, recruiters have shifted to social media to find likely students.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">Yet the school shutdowns, combined with the economic uncertainty during the pandemic, have only made vulnerable populations more likely to enlist. The military also is aware of this. An <a href="https://apnews.com/article/dd164de01f6ac616aaf9308daede0ce2" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #990000; text-decoration-line: none;">AP reporter</a> noted in June that in periods of high unemployment, the military becomes a more enticing option to teens from impoverished families.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">This is apparent from our work. Truth in Recruitment has been working to reduce recruiter access to students in Santa Maria high schools where the demographics on some campuses are 85% Latinx students, many from immigrant farmworkers working in the fields. Nevertheless, the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District (SMJUHSD) was pleased to report in June 2020 that sixty students from all the area high schools had decided to enlist.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">As a group dedicated to regulating the presence of military recruiters on campuses, and their access to students’ private information, we are seeing the consequences of both the pandemic and recruiters’ aggressive social media campaigns. Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) of 2001, high schools that receive federal funds must allow recruiters to have the same access to students as employers and colleges. This law is often cited when school districts say that they cannot regulate recruiter access to their students and schools. But the key word in the law, which shows what is possible, is the word "same." As long as school policies apply the same regulations to all types of recruiters, districts can implement policies that regulate recruiter access. Many school districts across the country have passed policies regulating recruiter access, including Austin, Texas, Oakland, California, the San Diego Unified School District, and the Santa Barbara Unified School District, where Truth in Recruitment is based.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">According to federal law, while districts are required to provide student names, addresses, and parents’ phone number, families have the right to "opt out" to prevent schools from releasing to the military further information about their children. However, now that teens have their own phones, recruiters have direct access to them – following them on social media, texting and emailing them privately – and have access to their friends in the process. Because of this, parental oversight is circumvented and a family’s privacy rights are ignored. Recruiters not only gain access to student’s through their phones, but through ‘surveys’ and sign up sheets, where they ask questions such as "citizenship status?" and other confidential information.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">Recruiters online tactics can be dubious. For one example, <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/military-recruitment-twitch/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #990000; text-decoration-line: none;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Nation</i></a> reported that on July 15, 2020,the Army’s Esports team on Twitch advertised a fake giveaway foran Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, valued at more than $200.When clicked, animated giveaway advertisementsin the Army’s Twitch stream chat boxes led users to a recruiting web form with no mention of any giveaway.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">Recent events reveal that building our military forces does not strengthen our country’s security. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the biggest threats to our nation cannot be stopped with military methods. It has also shown the risks that troops face from working and living close together, making them vulnerable to this deadly disease. In WW1, more troops died from disease than in combat.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">The police killings of unarmed black people have also shown the ineffectiveness of force to ensure the safety of our communities. A young black woman on the news testified that she had considered joining the police force but changed her mind after seeing the systemic abuse of police departments, both in the killing of George Floyd and the way police brutalized peaceful protesters. Even more pointedly, the death of US Army SPC Vanessa Guillen, murdered by a fellow soldier at Ford Hood in Texas, after first being sexually harassed by an officer, indicates the unstated dangers that recruits can face.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">How can those of us who are opposed to the current militarization of society in general and high schools in particular curtail the military’s push to meet recruitment "quotas?"</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">Step by step.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">Because of the pandemic, TIR has had to adjust strategies and procedures; after winning the right, with help from the ACLU So Cal affiliate, in 2019 to table at high school events in Santa Maria – we are now faced with school closures. So instead, we have been conducting meetings, events and presentations remotely, utilizing services like Zoom. In fall of 2020, we met with the SMJUHSD and the new Superintendent in Santa Maria to establish a working relationship and so progress in our goals.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;">Throughout the pandemic, Truth in Recruitment has given online presentations to students and local community groups. The focus has been on the stakes of military careers and our campaign to regulate recruiters’ access to students. On social media, we have regularly posted about military recruiting tactics – in order to give students a more balanced view of what life in the military can mean and to recognize that they can choose nonmilitary career options. The presence of military recruiters on high schools does not serve an educational purpose. Our goal is to build student and family awareness so they can make educated choices about their future.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Kate Connell is the director of Truth in Recruitment and the parent of two students who attended Santa Barbara schools. She is a member of the Religious Society of Friends, Quakers. Along with parents, students, veterans, and other community members, she successfully led the effort to implement a policy regulating recruiters in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><a href="https://www.frednadis.com/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #990000; text-decoration-line: none;">Fred Nadis</a> is an author and editor based in Santa Barbara, who volunteers as a grant writer for Truth in Recruitment.</i></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit;">Truth in Recruitment (TIR) is a project of the Santa Barbara Friends (Quaker) Meeting, a 501(c)3 nonprofit. TIR’s goal is to educate students, families, and school districts about alternatives to military careers, inform families of their children’s privacy rights, and advocate for policies regulating recruiter presence on campuses.</i></p><div class="addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content addtoany_content_bottom" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 16px auto 0px;"><div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-title="Counter-Recruitment in the Time of Covid" data-a2a-url="https://original.antiwar.com/kate_connell/2020/09/28/counter-recruitment-in-the-time-of-covid/" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; line-height: 32px; outline: 0px; touch-action: manipulation;"><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="https://original.antiwar.com/#facebook" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: #990000; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 32px; padding: 0px 4px; text-decoration-line: none; 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Kudos to the law clinic students, to Armin Salek who initiated the clinic and to Dan Rather for awarding Mr. Salek the "best idea to innovate Texas education" award!</font></h1><h1 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: merriweather, serif; font-size: 35px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nation’s First High School Law Clinic Nurtures Fledgling Legal Eagles</h1><p class="iframe-container" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #323232; font-family: "libre franklin", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The sounds of Texas.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="kut_player" frameborder="0" height="100" src="https://atx.audio/30wNAGB" style="border-style: initial; 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border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #676767; float: right; font-family: "libre franklin", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 15px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline; width: 470.25px;">By <span class="author" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 8px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Joy Diaz</span><span class="date" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">August 4, 2020 12:53 pm</span><span class="categories" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/categories/arts-culture/" rel="tag" style="border: 0px; 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box-sizing: border-box; color: #1aafe0; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap;">Sounds of Texas</a></span></p><div id="header-featured-image" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "libre franklin", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="wp-caption-area" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 2560px;"><div class="image" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" height="100%" src="https://www.texasstandard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/legal-eagles-rather-prize-2020-scaled.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" width="100%" /></div><div class="caption-text" style="background-color: #eeeeee; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(229, 229, 229); border-image: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 16px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="credit" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 8px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 4px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;">The Rather Foundation</p><p class="caption" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #323232; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.44px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Devin Ritter, a junior at Akins High School in Austin, presents his opening statement to Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Boyd as attorneys and students observe.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #323232; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When he was in law
school, Armin Salek noticed that most of his friends’ parents were also
attorneys. That didn’t make for a very diverse pool of people entering the
legal profession. To jump-start an interest in the law among young people who
hadn’t been exposed to that career path, Salek created the Legal Eagle
Internship at Austin’s Akins High School. It is the first high school legal aid
clinic in the country. Salek was awarded the 2020 <a href="https://ratherprize.org/"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #1aafe0; padding: 0in; text-decoration-line: none;">Rather Prize</span></a>, which recognizes of “the best idea to innovate
Texas education.” He plans to use the $10,000 he received to start more legal
clinics.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 25.5pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We have the first cohort of high school students working on real,
legal cases – immigration, wills. Our students were particularly excited about
handling gender marker and name changes at the end of the year. … Through that
clinic, students at our school would be able to tell students who have not
identified with their name or gender marker that we support you, and we will
help you get the name identification that matches the way you see yourself.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 25.5pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What we are trying to do is create a pipeline for
underrepresented populations into the [legal] profession. Law should be a place
to advocate, regardless of where you start.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 25.5pt; mso-outline-level: 3; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I really learned family
law through my students. They can tell you when a child can provide their
opinion for which parent they want to live with in a family law court. They’ll
tell you about situations where they were in immigration court, watching a
parent in deportation proceedings.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="caption" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #323232; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.44px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div><div id="portfolio-extra" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "libre franklin", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="more" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="wpb_row vc_row-fluid vc_row standard_section" data-bg-mobile-hidden="" data-midnight="dark" id="fws_5f2a0e571e40e" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 35px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="row-bg-wrap" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="row-bg" data-color_overlay="" data-color_overlay_2="" data-enable_gradient="false" data-gradient_direction="" data-overlay_strength="0.3" style="background-size: cover; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 234px; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 783.75px;"><p class="MsoNormal" dir="rtl" style="background: white; line-height: normal; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div><blockquote></blockquote><div class="wpb_row vc_row-fluid vc_row standard_section" data-bg-mobile-hidden="" data-midnight="dark" id="fws_5f2a0e571e7b9" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 35px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="col span_12 dark left" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 783.75px; z-index: 10;"><div class="vc_col-sm-12 wpb_column column_container col no-extra-padding" data-animation="" data-bg-color="" data-bg-cover="" data-bg-opacity="1" data-delay="0" data-has-bg-color="false" data-hover-bg-opacity="1" data-hover-bg="" data-padding-pos="all" style="background-position: 50% 50%; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; width: 783.75px; z-index: 10;"><div class="wpb_wrapper" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="wpb_text_column wpb_content_element" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="wpb_wrapper" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: merriweather, serif; font-size: 24px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></h3></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-72088496703490403892020-07-07T08:55:00.002-05:002020-07-07T08:55:53.727-05:00American Youthworks now enrolling: conservation and green building programsI've been hearing radio spots on NPR this week that American Youthworks is enrolling students for its programs. These are good opportunities for learning skills and doing creative, helpful work in areas of conservation and green building. American Youthworks operates Youthbuild and Texas Conservation Corps, which are Americorps programs that include skills training, living wages, health care and education awards toward college. These are sustainable options for youth! Check them out at <a href="http://www.americanyouthworks.org/">www.americanyouthworks.org</a>Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-25239541708588016212020-06-02T07:53:00.003-05:002020-06-02T07:53:45.917-05:00If you or someone you know is in the National Guard and facing activation in anti-BlackLivesMatter policing actions, you do have options <div style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
If you or someone you know is in the <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/nationalguard?__eep__=6&source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCe5omwYAme83sZMBb64ZOCn-RBp9-k0dliZnIn43eN7qeBR0xuNLQT5n-eb2BWszdq3nou9Rq4rS57FI_wAJmE2Qz-rP6PDGIdGokO6UCVujyoJAn3wWgfgL5xuv-031P3jNOgYSph9dJKyATB5JShwkR6TqRIVGW5N8GcL0_n4Wdy9_z34xDQqn-HsrBXVzgQYvcHSRHVVbD-bxnCWPp95shmt99PAH-E2mR1mcqhoA&__tn__=%2ANKH-R" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #365899; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">NationalGuard</span></span></a> and facing activation to participate in anti-<a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?__eep__=6&source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCe5omwYAme83sZMBb64ZOCn-RBp9-k0dliZnIn43eN7qeBR0xuNLQT5n-eb2BWszdq3nou9Rq4rS57FI_wAJmE2Qz-rP6PDGIdGokO6UCVujyoJAn3wWgfgL5xuv-031P3jNOgYSph9dJKyATB5JShwkR6TqRIVGW5N8GcL0_n4Wdy9_z34xDQqn-HsrBXVzgQYvcHSRHVVbD-bxnCWPp95shmt99PAH-E2mR1mcqhoA&__tn__=%2ANKH-R" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #365899; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">BlackLivesMatter</span></span></a> "policing" actions...</div>
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Please know that you D<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">O have options to avoid violating your conscience.</span></div>
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For help contact:</div>
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<a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=110074092413394&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdKH-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARAzAyvZRGonil1fk-bUoAt4BwP_V8sEJcbgfx0e-G8xqsrTaXT_d0uwaStLPycxhautZ21BagWUm2O7%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/girights/?__tn__=KH-R&eid=ARAzAyvZRGonil1fk-bUoAt4BwP_V8sEJcbgfx0e-G8xqsrTaXT_d0uwaStLPycxhautZ21BagWUm2O7&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCe5omwYAme83sZMBb64ZOCn-RBp9-k0dliZnIn43eN7qeBR0xuNLQT5n-eb2BWszdq3nou9Rq4rS57FI_wAJmE2Qz-rP6PDGIdGokO6UCVujyoJAn3wWgfgL5xuv-031P3jNOgYSph9dJKyATB5JShwkR6TqRIVGW5N8GcL0_n4Wdy9_z34xDQqn-HsrBXVzgQYvcHSRHVVbD-bxnCWPp95shmt99PAH-E2mR1mcqhoA" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">GI Rights Network</a><br />1-877-447-4487</div>
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<a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=11048976401&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdKH-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARB-48zfJFgSJX5kY35u3EfJ014hESKPEEHsupbv8tlitlLXYEcC-O4RR4N6waYHT4tR2El4u96q-iEG%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/nlgmltf/?__tn__=KH-R&eid=ARB-48zfJFgSJX5kY35u3EfJ014hESKPEEHsupbv8tlitlLXYEcC-O4RR4N6waYHT4tR2El4u96q-iEG&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCe5omwYAme83sZMBb64ZOCn-RBp9-k0dliZnIn43eN7qeBR0xuNLQT5n-eb2BWszdq3nou9Rq4rS57FI_wAJmE2Qz-rP6PDGIdGokO6UCVujyoJAn3wWgfgL5xuv-031P3jNOgYSph9dJKyATB5JShwkR6TqRIVGW5N8GcL0_n4Wdy9_z34xDQqn-HsrBXVzgQYvcHSRHVVbD-bxnCWPp95shmt99PAH-E2mR1mcqhoA" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild</a><br />619-463-2369</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/group.php?id=24292557038&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/CourageToResist/?fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCe5omwYAme83sZMBb64ZOCn-RBp9-k0dliZnIn43eN7qeBR0xuNLQT5n-eb2BWszdq3nou9Rq4rS57FI_wAJmE2Qz-rP6PDGIdGokO6UCVujyoJAn3wWgfgL5xuv-031P3jNOgYSph9dJKyATB5JShwkR6TqRIVGW5N8GcL0_n4Wdy9_z34xDQqn-HsrBXVzgQYvcHSRHVVbD-bxnCWPp95shmt99PAH-E2mR1mcqhoA&__tn__=KH-R" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Courage To Resist</a></div>
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<a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=137650586251675&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdKH-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARBOpD6zPMzj5526TKoqEqsmZEQ6wyeVG_oOqHzlGt5PhKLqoAsXkmU1KbuEoiwmyLShoMnYuderkAUl%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/VetsAboutFace/?__tn__=KH-R&eid=ARBOpD6zPMzj5526TKoqEqsmZEQ6wyeVG_oOqHzlGt5PhKLqoAsXkmU1KbuEoiwmyLShoMnYuderkAUl&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCe5omwYAme83sZMBb64ZOCn-RBp9-k0dliZnIn43eN7qeBR0xuNLQT5n-eb2BWszdq3nou9Rq4rS57FI_wAJmE2Qz-rP6PDGIdGokO6UCVujyoJAn3wWgfgL5xuv-031P3jNOgYSph9dJKyATB5JShwkR6TqRIVGW5N8GcL0_n4Wdy9_z34xDQqn-HsrBXVzgQYvcHSRHVVbD-bxnCWPp95shmt99PAH-E2mR1mcqhoA" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">About Face: Veterans Against the War</a><br />Email: support@aboutfaceveterans.org<br />For veteran peer support</div>
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Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-43552143945169400252020-05-30T08:26:00.000-05:002020-05-30T08:26:03.450-05:00Veterans for Peace calls on the Minnesota National Guard to Stand DownExcellent statement from Veterans for Peace:<br />
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Veterans Call on the Minnesota National Guard to Stand Down</h2>
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Veterans For Peace calls for the immediate withdrawal of the Minnesota National Guard. We are appalled to see military weapons, vehicles and equipment once again deployed in U.S. cities to control community members who are reacting to a long history of state-sanctioned violence. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 22px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 22px;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 22px;">When an already embattled community is subjected to militarized intimidation, by design, their environment becomes a war zone. We call on all those who are serving with the National Guard to refuse to serve violent and racist interests.</span></span></span></div>
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Veterans For Peace denounces the ongoing instances of police violence against Black bodies and people of color, this time resulting in the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We also stand in opposition to the State of Minnesota’s and the Minneapolis police force’s militarized response to the right to protest.</div>
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Learning nothing from the now seemingly endless examples of ineffective attempts to silence protests with militarized violence—from Ferguson to Baltimore to New Orleans to Standing Rock—political figures continue to call on more military to quell the powerful resistance seen from the people in Minneapolis who demand justice. We continue to see the escalation of threats of violence from those in power--from Trump’s tweets threatening to shoot protestors to the governor’s decision to send in the national guard.</div>
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As Veterans For Peace, we know that increased militarization in our communities will never bring peace. We know that peace is only achieved with a strong commitment to justice. As veterans who served in various wars, we know there is a connection between increasing racist violence in the United States and the massive indiscriminate killing of hundreds of thousands of people in other lands. Growing racism against black, brown and Muslim people in the United States is a reflection of the racism that justifies killing non-white people abroad. The U.S. military deliberately uses racism to motivate young men and women to kill.</div>
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As veterans, we know what it’s like to be called to a “duty” that goes against our conscience. We urge all current National Guard members to lay down their weapons and refuse to fight against their neighbors and fellow community members. <strong>We urge you all to be fully informed as you make profound choices with possibly serious consequences. We urge any troops facing possible deployment to Minneapolis or already there to contact the National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force at (619) 463-2369 and/or help@militarylawhelp.com for referral to a civilian attorney to discuss your options.</strong></div>
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Our nation’s consistent option for militarization and the use of deadly force when it is not needed—at home and abroad—is exactly why we find ourselves in this situation. It makes no sense to think more violence and trauma heaped upon the Minneapolis community will quell the unrest. The Governor has moved beyond using a militarized police force to using the military. He is relying on intimidation and fear to end this. The only thing that will quiet this storm is justice.</div>
Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-53072338686785202252020-02-13T11:25:00.000-06:002020-02-13T11:33:32.429-06:00Former US Air Force drone operator speaks out about atrocities of the US militaryDrone operators in the US Air Force have suffered Post Traumatic Stress Injuries from their roles in remote killing. War is not a game. It dehumanizes on all sides. A former drone operator testifies in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-military-drone-nazis-brandon-bryant-a9324011.html?fbclid=IwAR1HU6VuhDm0CZdNJFLU4thLKyRvCaKI6vRKfTMlC711zJc3tCqOBngLmCw">an article in The Independent, by Craig Graziosi</a>, February 8, 2020:<br />
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<span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">Brandon Bryant was enlisted in the US Air Force for
six years. During his time with the military, he operated Predator drones,
remotely firing missiles at targets more than 7,000 miles away from the small
room containing his workspace near Las Vegas, Nevada.</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">Mr. Bryant says he reached his breaking point
with the US military after killing a child in Afghanistan that his superiors
told him was “a dog.” Mr. Bryant recalls the moment: After firing a Hellfire
missile at a building containing his target, he saw a child exit the building
just as the missile struck. When he alerted his superiors about the situation
after reviewing the tape, he was told “it was a f***ing dog, drop it.”</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">Following that incident, Mr. Bryant quit the
military and began speaking out against the drone program.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">During his time in the Air Force, Mr. Bryant
estimates he contributed directly to killing 13 people himself and says his
squadron fired on 1,626 targets including women and children. He says he has
been left suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">Mr. Bryant said he saw the man he targeted
bleed out from his legs and watched as his body went cold on his thermal
imaging screen. </span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">“The smoke clears, and there’s pieces of the
two guys around the crater. And there’s this guy over here, and he’s missing
his right leg above his knee. He’s holding it, and he’s rolling around, and the
blood is squirting out of his leg … It took him a long time to die. I just
watched him,” Mr. Bryant </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt;"><a href="https://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201311/drone-uav-pilot-assassination"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #ec1a2e; padding: 0in;">said in an interview with GQ.</span></a><o:p></o:p></span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">“That image on the screen is still in my head.
Whenever I think about it, it still hurts me,” Mr. Bryant said. “When I pulled
the trigger, I knew that it was wrong. When the middle struck I knew in my soul
I had become a murderer.”</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">Other airmen in Mr. Bryant’s squadron celebrated
his first kill, saying “Brant’s popped his cherry.” </span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">Mr. Bryant was enlisted from 2006 to 2011,
working as a sensor operator, which helps direct missiles to their targets.
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<a href="https://rootsaction.org/news-a-views/1646-rootsactionorg-interviews-drone-whistleblower-brandon-bryant" style="font-size: 14.5pt;"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #ec1a2e; padding: 0in;">In a conversation</span></a><span style="border: 1pt none; color: #222222; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;"> with the Roots Action
Network, Mr. Bryant recalled an instance early in his enlistment where he
and his fellow drone operators were shown a video montage of drone strikes,
after which they were told their jobs were to “kill people and break things.”</span></div>
<span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">“It went against everything that I had ever
learned about honor and justice and training. It was terrifying how dismissive
people were about the whole affair. We were safe in the U.S. and those over
there were not. We win. But that’s not how it goes,” Mr. Bryant said. </span><br />
<span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">Mr. Bryant said that despite his misgivings
about the program, his superiors used punitive measures and mockery to keep him
in line. </span><br />
<span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">“It broke my spirit. It went against
everything I learned about being a warrior, about holding yourself to higher
standards. My superiors psychologically beat me and ridiculed me to keep me in
line. They took away my free time and forced me to sit in a seat or be tried
under the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) for disobeying orders,” Mr.
Bryant said. “In a sense, it was my prison. I served my time to learn and
reflect. And so I hold the key now, to the entire apparatus. I just don’t know
what to do with it.”</span><br />
<span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">He has said the US military is “worse than the
Nazis” because “we should know better.” </span><br />
<span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">Mr. Bryant said he and his family have been
threatened for speaking out against the drone program and that he has lost
friends and been estranged from other members of his family over his
whistle-blowing. </span><br />
<span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">Ultimately Mr. Bryant wants the public to
understand the dehumanizing effect of the drone program on the operators and
the individuals targeted. </span><br />
<span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 14.5pt; padding: 0in;">“I would want people to know, beyond its
existence, the consequences it has on us as a species to delineate our power
into something so easily destructive. Every time we get closer to that edge,
we’re going to have to realize where it places us,” Mr. Bryant said.</span><br />
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<br />Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-50427997333547974502020-01-22T17:33:00.002-06:002020-01-22T17:33:58.185-06:00Apply for free training in the building tradesIf you're interested in getting training in the building trades, check out the program at the United Brotherhood of Carpenters (this includes women!) at <a href="http://www.ubctexastraining.com/">www.ubctexastraining.com </a>right here in Austin. Austin is a leader in green building, and this training reflects that.Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-53109747161406318552019-12-28T22:45:00.000-06:002019-12-28T22:45:27.998-06:00Education, Not Militarization, a video from Project YANOA video from Project YANO -- Youth and Non-military Opportunities -- featuring high school students in California facing aggressive recruiting in their schools and discussing their own plans for their futures. <br />
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<br />Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-27312496979572787842019-11-26T14:27:00.000-06:002019-11-26T14:27:39.538-06:00Pope Francis reiterates his call to abolish nuclear weapons<span style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">"With deep conviction, I wish once more to declare that the use of atomic energy for purposes of war is today, more than ever, a crime not only against the dignity of human beings but against any possible future for our common home. The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral, as I already said two years ago. We will be judged on this. Future generations will rise to condemn our failure if we spoke of peace but did not act to bring it about among the peoples of the earth. How can we speak of peace even as we build terrifying new weapons of war? How can we speak about peace even as we justify illegitimate actions by speeches filled with discrimination and hate?"</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">-- Pope Francis, speaking this week in Nagasaki, Japan</span>Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-67041828107079230392019-11-22T16:55:00.001-06:002019-11-22T17:25:25.175-06:00Veterans for Peace takes action on Climate JusticeNews came today from Veterans for Peace that VFP Executive Director, Garett Reppenhagen was arrested in Washington DC as part of the #FireDrillFriday action. Today's action theme was the protection of the earth's water. Here is what Garett said as part of his testimony:<br />
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'War is general is destructive to our planet in so many ways. In Iraq, I saw firsthand demolition of utility infrastructure. Destroyed plumbing made available clean water scarce and further damage to waste systems contaminated water supplies. The fertile crescent was nurtured by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, now too polluted to swim in. Today, precious few can even now count on something so simple as a safe cup of tap water.'<br />'When I came home, I became very self-destructive. I was a sniper in Iraq and because I perpetuated those crimes, I felt a heavy weight of grief and guilt, and finding my way into activism started to save my life. Repurposing myself and finding a new identity in the movement to serve this country in an HONEST way and protect my communities in a REAL way allowed me to start healing my moral injury.'</blockquote>
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Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-56502938955963145822019-11-09T11:15:00.001-06:002019-11-09T11:15:26.708-06:00Teaching Environmental Justice -- a workshop in Austin by Rethinking SchoolsGood news from the folks at Rethinking Schools:<br />
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<strong style="line-height: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: inherit;">Teaching Climate Change and Environmental Justice</span></strong><br style="line-height: inherit;" /><span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: inherit;"><strong style="line-height: inherit;">Thursday, November 21</strong>University of Texas Austin College of Education<strong style="line-height: inherit;"><br style="line-height: inherit;" /></strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: inherit;">Dear Texas Rethinking Schools friends,<br style="line-height: inherit;" /></span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: inherit;">We are happy to announce that while in Austin for the National Council for the Social Studies annual conference, Rethinking Schools editor Bill Bigelow will offer a <strong style="line-height: inherit;">free full-day workshop</strong> on <span style="color: #0068a5; line-height: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: inherit;"><span style="line-height: inherit;">teaching about climate change </span>and environmental justice</span></span> on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019 at the University of Texas Austin College of Education.<br style="line-height: inherit;" /><br style="line-height: inherit;" /><strong style="line-height: inherit;"><a href="http://email.robly.com/wf/click?upn=INSVTtqxgQY23ZXO1A7It-2BqWf8vuiCxe-2BaWMZ-2Ft0uN0MwPTrFZ736xXtNZPw7oHNe3tAfMNx57wx-2BYV25kiGqQ-3D-3D_6kimdVUEoA1lDF-2FICxSOOuuRAWdmP9Zx0GiM5FkG-2Bqj8wJTC-2BTFRzMf5ZHijeGg5wyh73oSo-2BdzsFUFIQdg-2BAA7LBMBOq7u7hk9eIrTIpGw3HuOxESdzO1Hz8v9ynrQi2RhzFOW0IvI9Fnj5xshygI1zteL0v4h8NAk-2FnWcfE2ZC6WPzWWPA-2B1ow-2BYqioEygvePXlkqpJ6VRT2zGu80-2Bm-2BFjESUDiJ-2Fgv5KL7hLdSmPf1FTE09MAAAud42zhzq1wTSeigjx2gHsfcT-2BLRwnuCdt74W38Hwp5KnWm9Pcn-2F0nAWZeoTeVAZB0KQ3IFgQwIScu9klrmuZDYr-2F5T2QPeHbe3T-2FDUeyzuG3EmVlCyOT5Qfl8ovebWQE9mlHUCcp6t7-2BJN5JHtYwKWFGnoVkn7cKBg3qCj00gymBts64ABjOqj8gJgNBzVYsJaZr4RfAWgWlxtwYkQvGiWQ3Rax7JZxw-3D-3D" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0068a5; line-height: inherit;" target="_blank">Sign up here.</a></strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: inherit;">Bigelow will introduce lessons from the Rethinking Schools book he co-edited, <strong style="line-height: inherit;"><a href="http://email.robly.com/wf/click?upn=INSVTtqxgQY23ZXO1A7It5liEvEQbqe4lBV7yTmTLG1O49W6L5Gl7QqHuiUA4r0-2FlaiAi1cWgVP5viMQgnAerui1dXkUVJlOgllji9uXeHHxofF2oLzunNbvCoXIrufM_6kimdVUEoA1lDF-2FICxSOOuuRAWdmP9Zx0GiM5FkG-2Bqj8wJTC-2BTFRzMf5ZHijeGg5wyh73oSo-2BdzsFUFIQdg-2BAA7LBMBOq7u7hk9eIrTIpGw3HuOxESdzO1Hz8v9ynrQi2RhzFOW0IvI9Fnj5xshygI1zteL0v4h8NAk-2FnWcfE2ZC6WPzWWPA-2B1ow-2BYqioEygvePXlkqpJ6VRT2zGu80-2Bm-2BFjESUDiJ-2Fgv5KL7hLdSmPf1FTE09MAAAud42zhzq1wTSeigjx2gHsfcT-2BLRwnuCaiQb1kVK70o7RZ85bptB-2BnDQlwtluBFSIFH66LjpWYOfvGy-2BoxUxyBMpSw3sFQGsEAYPa1M8DdgyaqUN4kUhA2gct62lH87RbDPY-2FHVZPoDoirJDLsScCTJMzCHErQJycs9RUR3hGCU-2FjOzftcxrgfRmiYMnh6FqqQyvPEtVGV5Oi9zepOtLu52-2F0sRHFwb2A-3D-3D" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0068a5; line-height: inherit;" target="_blank"><em style="line-height: inherit;">A People’s Curriculum for the Earth: Teaching Climate Change</em> <em style="line-height: inherit;">and the Environmental Crisis</em> .</a></strong> <span style="color: red; line-height: inherit;"><strong style="line-height: inherit;">Each participant will receive a free copy of the book.</strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: inherit;"><strong style="line-height: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 22px; line-height: inherit;">Event Details</span></span></strong></span></div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit;">University of Texas Austin College of Education<br style="line-height: inherit;" />Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: inherit;"><strong style="line-height: inherit;">8:30am to 3:30pm</strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: inherit;">Ideal for in-service and pre-service teachers, other school staff, curriculum coordinators, teacher educators, school media specialists, and environmental justice activists.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: inherit;"><br style="line-height: inherit;" />Breakfast and lunch are provided.</span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: inherit;"><br style="line-height: inherit;" /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; line-height: inherit;">Sponsored by the <strong style="line-height: inherit;"><a href="http://email.robly.com/wf/click?upn=INSVTtqxgQY23ZXO1A7It6i8Tt2QXX4KaRaCCu4JNMl0TG35AkiuX02GrnTCJg7f_6kimdVUEoA1lDF-2FICxSOOuuRAWdmP9Zx0GiM5FkG-2Bqj8wJTC-2BTFRzMf5ZHijeGg5wyh73oSo-2BdzsFUFIQdg-2BAA7LBMBOq7u7hk9eIrTIpGw3HuOxESdzO1Hz8v9ynrQi2RhzFOW0IvI9Fnj5xshygI1zteL0v4h8NAk-2FnWcfE2ZC6WPzWWPA-2B1ow-2BYqioEygvePXlkqpJ6VRT2zGu80-2Bm-2BFjESUDiJ-2Fgv5KL7hLdSmPf1FTE09MAAAud42zhzq1wTSeigjx2gHsfcT-2BLRwnuCWAwV-2BgY5rC-2B2wohnuU-2F6sBD3x6GPDJnwpeDJ84PcnLO2CtNAhdgEcktajfTOnyXhS4DQvaiyfQAbVVa-2FMgiLk-2BXigRfPkncVWvV0GRBKeGbJSqEDFPC-2FVgycgjHnWKzOPMUb8G23HU5mSzUVZ01IFjfrWfpuBpHvHS3ebK4kf3FnE7vV9phvhxpR9efHtzs5A-3D-3D" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0068a5; line-height: inherit;" target="_blank">Texas Center for Education Policy</a>, <a href="http://email.robly.com/wf/click?upn=INSVTtqxgQY23ZXO1A7It9C0gkeaZ1a-2B46vwFwVpE3is8YjGStyKn2CGXqGAh-2B3o_6kimdVUEoA1lDF-2FICxSOOuuRAWdmP9Zx0GiM5FkG-2Bqj8wJTC-2BTFRzMf5ZHijeGg5wyh73oSo-2BdzsFUFIQdg-2BAA7LBMBOq7u7hk9eIrTIpGw3HuOxESdzO1Hz8v9ynrQi2RhzFOW0IvI9Fnj5xshygI1zteL0v4h8NAk-2FnWcfE2ZC6WPzWWPA-2B1ow-2BYqioEygvePXlkqpJ6VRT2zGu80-2Bm-2BFjESUDiJ-2Fgv5KL7hLdSmPf1FTE09MAAAud42zhzq1wTSeigjx2gHsfcT-2BLRwnuCZCR1S8VONVvv9IWozjUcNPErtU-2FX-2BL1xS3nzU9T0LKuumLQh-2Bngn3iUUFrgWK5kH8FxqLyQn76-2FSXYI3Gd-2B3nk0HUSyslW3YVd9tFfBZvpV9SIKJUtYBDxDGelJUSIjayZFQaGBEBJcG3QNYyGfs05-2BrU-2BXjmRltsvKoRcs3j6eZI6Iqw-2F-2FiODb4dvb2htLJw-3D-3D" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0068a5; line-height: inherit;" target="_blank">UT Austin College of Education</a>, <a href="http://email.robly.com/wf/click?upn=INSVTtqxgQY23ZXO1A7It1F00dC-2Bi-2BXgaJQND2TRjXXNER503GnTlQ4NO80iVZO0_6kimdVUEoA1lDF-2FICxSOOuuRAWdmP9Zx0GiM5FkG-2Bqj8wJTC-2BTFRzMf5ZHijeGg5wyh73oSo-2BdzsFUFIQdg-2BAA7LBMBOq7u7hk9eIrTIpGw3HuOxESdzO1Hz8v9ynrQi2RhzFOW0IvI9Fnj5xshygI1zteL0v4h8NAk-2FnWcfE2ZC6WPzWWPA-2B1ow-2BYqioEygvePXlkqpJ6VRT2zGu80-2Bm-2BFjESUDiJ-2Fgv5KL7hLdSmPf1FTE09MAAAud42zhzq1wTSeigjx2gHsfcT-2BLRwnuCe2RfyUfC7-2B5bBLSmesw7Ndy3ROuY4CCF3pFFqMc3757j2t8BQAOJGpr-2FNsVnXXuWPY9EBeK-2FF4-2Fk2ZN-2Fr6D7vOQEPz05fsHoyolWFssrQyIVgGJxyRl2UlC69WqezkTKqPldA0B1E-2FUqsZLUitRPluDCO6nEv5aczad3q4BKmCNTEyj8I0-2Bc6SNKuK8hlXLVA-3D-3D" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0068a5; line-height: inherit;" target="_blank">Environment Texas</a>,</strong> and<strong style="line-height: inherit;"> <a href="http://email.robly.com/wf/click?upn=INSVTtqxgQY23ZXO1A7It5liEvEQbqe4lBV7yTmTLG07uN-2Bf9NVcz9Spv-2FD40Mby_6kimdVUEoA1lDF-2FICxSOOuuRAWdmP9Zx0GiM5FkG-2Bqj8wJTC-2BTFRzMf5ZHijeGg5wyh73oSo-2BdzsFUFIQdg-2BAA7LBMBOq7u7hk9eIrTIpGw3HuOxESdzO1Hz8v9ynrQi2RhzFOW0IvI9Fnj5xshygI1zteL0v4h8NAk-2FnWcfE2ZC6WPzWWPA-2B1ow-2BYqioEygvePXlkqpJ6VRT2zGu80-2Bm-2BFjESUDiJ-2Fgv5KL7hLdSmPf1FTE09MAAAud42zhzq1wTSeigjx2gHsfcT-2BLRwnuCUJx4bzbQ2eH-2FlhvLCmC6IBxYnDk7KDFhvubVvMJsmXw6KWujWQfHoL66wXHSOQR6EFCsZxb-2FRML7ppT0MObYxNN8TuBqqYb-2BIOGvlIh1jHLJzlUrN9E93DFJvJyYGKeE2lkmO6n8vj4kwNe59YVwFp4Va7lLlBK83kJkhVs2UiJl2FdlQIv0kYALH-2FHlpIxZQ-3D-3D" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0068a5; line-height: inherit;" target="_blank">Rethinking Schools</a></strong>.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: inherit;"><strong style="line-height: inherit;">Meet the Teaching People’s History Team at NCSS 2019</strong></span></div>
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<a href="http://email.robly.com/wf/click?upn=INSVTtqxgQY23ZXO1A7It0ze7QLa7tqp0qaSg2o9Q9t2aJhjmFOuJxZcmGKXXtrpr6ylzyDbusp5YjBtqnbl8g-3D-3D_6kimdVUEoA1lDF-2FICxSOOuuRAWdmP9Zx0GiM5FkG-2Bqj8wJTC-2BTFRzMf5ZHijeGg5wyh73oSo-2BdzsFUFIQdg-2BAA7LBMBOq7u7hk9eIrTIpGw3HuOxESdzO1Hz8v9ynrQi2RhzFOW0IvI9Fnj5xshygI1zteL0v4h8NAk-2FnWcfE2ZC6WPzWWPA-2B1ow-2BYqioEygvePXlkqpJ6VRT2zGu80-2Bm-2BFjESUDiJ-2Fgv5KL7hLdSmPf1FTE09MAAAud42zhzq1wTSeigjx2gHsfcT-2BLRwnuCVR27SD8lo6AFEUny-2FWsxcVES2EqdvTXHO0-2FvlVACaTAdwbph0GIMsfEHb6WdVMVa8IOyiPnecLwGACLiZac7wNVFFcMPgUkoRQvvod-2BvEiq3S4KD6oF-2FVgEU4zbhN1JsB7akILYgNzaQweETgcML-2FPERAYhb8f2MhzjN8erKWF9g3MRlVC6-2BGQ2yhp35HSmcQ-3D-3D" rel="nofollow" style="color: #338fe9; line-height: inherit;" tabindex="-1" target="_blank"><img align="center" alt="Image" border="0" class="yiv4913009717center yiv4913009717autowidth " src="https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd1a8dioxuajlzs.cloudfront.net%2Faccounts%2F8356%2Foriginal%2Fncss_booth_2015-335x230.jpg%3F1573226190&t=1573319462&ymreqid=fc0ba827-1dfc-e0a4-1c8a-800001019300&sig=OzuUhQzGKD9fAiJ0WD4PWA--~C" style="border: none; display: block; height: auto; line-height: inherit; max-width: 335px; text-decoration-line: none; text-indent: -9999px; width: 335px;" title="Image" width="335" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: inherit;">And if you are going to the <strong style="line-height: inherit;">National Council for the Social Studies in Austin</strong>, Nov. 22-24, visit the <strong style="line-height: inherit;"><a href="http://email.robly.com/wf/click?upn=INSVTtqxgQY23ZXO1A7It0ze7QLa7tqp0qaSg2o9Q9sYUIzOi-2FTB01J5b4eNH6c2_6kimdVUEoA1lDF-2FICxSOOuuRAWdmP9Zx0GiM5FkG-2Bqj8wJTC-2BTFRzMf5ZHijeGg5wyh73oSo-2BdzsFUFIQdg-2BAA7LBMBOq7u7hk9eIrTIpGw3HuOxESdzO1Hz8v9ynrQi2RhzFOW0IvI9Fnj5xshygI1zteL0v4h8NAk-2FnWcfE2ZC6WPzWWPA-2B1ow-2BYqioEygvePXlkqpJ6VRT2zGu80-2Bm-2BFjESUDiJ-2Fgv5KL7hLdSmPf1FTE09MAAAud42zhzq1wTSeigjx2gHsfcT-2BLRwnuCbWqkeFb44u7ssmVvQG-2F3azK1Uk2MvUYld15A3MSLSiz0mXOsrmGim50QaEPqCQUVFiRAxXfGwb-2F7AVf8thBsMRPC9ZpVDWZVaisBvvoU0IFYa8l05cxjuJWhBrT2gIp8RJvk54fasnifEZnK0XsJhz5l-2BUZjjWRjoHTfGPI5IQ7Wo-2B9osZPwySIJrw0OpBE5A-3D-3D" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0068a5; line-height: inherit;" target="_blank">Zinn Education Project</a></strong> booth in the exhibit hall, and attend workshops led by Rethinking Schools editors, Adam Sanchez, Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, and Bill Bigelow.<br style="line-height: inherit;" /><strong style="line-height: inherit;"><a href="http://email.robly.com/wf/click?upn=INSVTtqxgQY23ZXO1A7It0ze7QLa7tqp0qaSg2o9Q9t2aJhjmFOuJxZcmGKXXtrpr6ylzyDbusp5YjBtqnbl8g-3D-3D_6kimdVUEoA1lDF-2FICxSOOuuRAWdmP9Zx0GiM5FkG-2Bqj8wJTC-2BTFRzMf5ZHijeGg5wyh73oSo-2BdzsFUFIQdg-2BAA7LBMBOq7u7hk9eIrTIpGw3HuOxESdzO1Hz8v9ynrQi2RhzFOW0IvI9Fnj5xshygI1zteL0v4h8NAk-2FnWcfE2ZC6WPzWWPA-2B1ow-2BYqioEygvePXlkqpJ6VRT2zGu80-2Bm-2BFjESUDiJ-2Fgv5KL7hLdSmPf1FTE09MAAAud42zhzq1wTSeigjx2gHsfcT-2BLRwnuCey16VSVhSGf5ggkKDAiTXo1QRFkr63JWep7h8C7LNRKrAgqLjpAEiHWyYnCl15UiSVXtAOUQon9PPzynXVHO3ImaiahRsmxJeIWlw2W12i-2BO9PONzOV8c-2BI30F5-2BvhOkulNvcz6B81M-2BIrcQZNZxz39gbdC7PUXrNhaIdbDvvj3hcXHamnViQNIqf9oAUpd0A-3D-3D" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0068a5; line-height: inherit;" target="_blank">More details here.</a></strong></span></div>
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Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-72335454570227951082019-11-07T18:17:00.001-06:002019-11-07T18:18:12.245-06:00Being Bilingual is a Superpower!<br />
<br />
<img alt="No photo description available." height="310" src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/75362514_10157197402660379_8438712560194158592_n.png?_nc_cat=104&_nc_oc=AQl2oQu_J-I1EaRExK_O5OTktBgiKx8ze60amnI6hH-WfnFY_6C_xlwmqE-i60C4XGazY0kZgJw-PZq_OqCjwh9j&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=ab895a3410579d55e446c70c7194293b&oe=5E50BA3F" width="400" /><br />
<br />
This is true! If you grow up speaking and understanding two or more languages, please hang onto them. This will be a lifelong advantage in any career -- and in life in general!<br />
<br />Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-89960109855640331982019-10-31T15:19:00.000-05:002019-10-31T15:19:03.802-05:00From Veterans for Peace on Halloween: Terrifying Facts about US militarism<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Veterans For Peace is taking the opportunity to educate folks with some terrifying facts on the military industrial complex.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
Veterans For Peace knows that the real ghouls and goblins are continuing to fund these endless wars and the defense contractors who continue getting rich off these dangerous policies. We decided to release some real facts that show how terrifying and out of control the U.S. is when it comes to defense spending, nuclear weapons, treatment of our veterans, etc.</div>
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<a href="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/download_file/3701" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" border="0" class="ccm-image-block" height="250" src="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/files/cache/ab6e0d60ff82ddaf6bedd52f30aae879_f3701.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="500" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/download_file/3702" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" border="0" class="ccm-image-block" height="250" src="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/files/cache/85040ffab5d0fe2dc9c10cd918940aad_f3702.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="500" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/download_file/3703" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" border="0" class="ccm-image-block" height="250" src="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/files/cache/e8f168a27eab7aade2b369fc08eb1afe_f3703.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="500" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/download_file/3704" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" border="0" class="ccm-image-block" height="250" src="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/files/cache/901137e2dd0248a64df5346579e0eb7b_f3704.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="500" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/download_file/3705" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" border="0" class="ccm-image-block" height="250" src="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/files/cache/aada8a50badc711af57100efe30e89f8_f3705.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="500" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/download_file/3706" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" border="0" class="ccm-image-block" height="250" src="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/files/cache/816e8fb158649b08d5f17db7c492e13a_f3706.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="500" /></a></div>
Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-28139801552910447042019-10-10T07:37:00.000-05:002019-10-10T11:06:10.244-05:00Voices from #NoWar2019This comes from Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Words of wisdom from the #NoWar2019 conference in Limerick, Ireland:<br />
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<span class="yiv7167548338mc-toc-title"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><em>This week, Voices was honored to be represented at the #NoWar2019 conference in Limerick, Ireland, where our own Brian Terrell, appearing for Kathy Kelly who could not travel, shared the stage with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire. We include both of their conference statements here.</em></span></span></h4>
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<span class="yiv7167548338mc-toc-title"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><img alt="Image result for photos, mairead maguire" 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" /><em><br /> </em></span></span></h4>
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<strong>Pathways to Peace: Mairead Maguire’s remarks at #NoWar2019</strong></h3>
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Remarks on October 4, 2019 at <a href="https://vcnv.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ad474c00c83953a2b8e225340&id=9a1dbd0838&e=7ab2a10cf9" rel="nofollow" style="color: #6dc6dd; overflow-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">NoWar2019</a> in Limerick, Ireland</div>
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I am very happy to be with you all at this conference. I would like to thank David Swanson and World Beyond War for organizing this important event and also all those attending for their work for peace.</div>
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I have long been inspired by the American Peace activists and it is a joy to be with some of you at this conference. A long time ago, as a teenager living in Belfast, and social activist, I was inspired by the life of Dorothy Day, of the Catholic Worker. Dorothy, a nonviolent Prophet, called for an end to war and the money from militarism, to be used to help alleviate poverty. Alas, if today Dorothy (RIP) knew that one in six individuals in the USA is in the Military-Media-Industrial-Complex and armament costs continue to rise daily, how disappointed she would be. Indeed, one third of the USA military budget would eliminate the entire poverty in the USA.</div>
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We need to offer new hope to a humanity suffering under the scourge of militarism and war. People are tired of armaments and war. People want Peace. They have seen that militarism does not solve problems, but is a part of the problem. The Global Climate crisis is added to by the emissions of US military, the greatest polluter in the World. Militarism also creates uncontrollable forms of tribalism and nationalism. These are a dangerous and murderous form of identity and about which we need to take steps to transcend, lest we unleash further dreadful violence upon the world. To do this we need to acknowledge that our common humanity and human dignity is more important than our different traditions. We need to recognize our life and the lives of others (and Nature) are sacred and we can solve our problems without killing each other. We need to accept and celebrate diversity and otherness. We need to work to heal the old divisions and misunderstandings, give and accept forgiveness and choose nonkilling and nonviolence as ways to solve our problems.</div>
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We are also challenged to build structures through which we can co-operate and which reflect our interconnected and inter-dependent relationships. The vision of the European Union founders to link countries together economically unfortunately has lost its way as we are witnessing the growing militarization of Europe, its role as a driving force for armaments, and the dangerous path, under the leadership of the USA/NATO towards a new cold war and military aggression with the building up of battle groups and a European army. I believe the European countries, who used to take initiatives in the UN for peaceful settlements of conflicts, particularly allegedly peaceful countries, like Norway and Sweden, are now one of the USA/NATO’s most important war assets. The EU is a threat to the survival of neutrality and has been drawn into being complicit in breaking international law through so many illegal and immoral wars since 9/ll. I therefore believe NATO should be abolished, and the myth of military security replaced by Human Security, through International Law and implementation of Peace Architecture. The Science of Peace and implementation of Nonkilling/Nonviolent Political Science will help us transcend violent thinking and replace a culture of violence with a culture of nonkilling/nonviolence in our homes, our societies, our world.</div>
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Also the UN should be reformed and should actively take up their mandate to save the world from the scourge of war. People and Governments should be encouraged to evoke moral and ethical standards in our own personal lives and for Public Standards. As we have abolished slavery, so too we can abolish militarism and war in our world.</div>
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I believe if we are to survive as the human family, we must end Militarism and War and have a policy of general and complete disarmament. In order to do so, we have to look at what is sold to us as the driving forces for militarism and war.</div>
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Who are the real beneficiaries of war? So to begin we are sold the wars under democracy, the fight against terrorism, but history has taught us wars preceeded the fight against terrorism. Greed and Colonialism and seizing of resources preceeded terrorism and the fight for so called democracy preceeded terrorism by thousands of years. We now live in an age of Western Colonialism disguised as a fight for freedom, civil rights, religious wars, right to Protect. Under the premises we are sold the opinion that by sending our troops there and facilitating this, we are bringing democracy, rights for women, education, and for the more slightly astute of us, for those of us who see through this war propaganda,we are told that this has benefits for our countries. For those of us who are slightly more realistic about our countries' goals in these countries we see an economic benefit for cheap oil, tax revenues from companies expansion into these countries, through mining, oil, resources in general and arms sales.</div>
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So at this point we are questioned morally for the good of our own country, or for our own morals. The majority of us do not own shares, in Shell, BP, Raytheon, Halliburton, etc., Shares that skyrocketed (including Raytheon) three fold since the Syrian proxy war began. The major US military firms are:</div>
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<li>Lockheed Martin</li>
<li>Boeing</li>
<li>Raytheon</li>
<li>BAE Systems</li>
<li>Northrop Grumman</li>
<li>General Dynamics</li>
<li>Airbus</li>
<li>Thales</li>
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The General Public do not benefit from the massive tax expenditure incurred by these wars. In the end these benefits are funneled towards the top. Shareholders benefit and the top l% who run our media, and the military industrial complex, will be the beneficiaries of war. So we find ourselves in a world of endless wars, as large arms companies, and the people who benefit the most have no financial incentives for peace in these countries.</div>
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IRISH NEUTRALITY</div>
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I would first like to address all Americans and thank the young soldiers and all Americans and give them my deepest condolences as I am truly sorry so many soldiers, and civilians, have been injured or killed in these US/NATO wars. It is with great regret that the American people have paid a high price, as have the Iraqi, Syrians, Libyans, Afghans, Somalis, but we must call it what it is. America is a Colonial Power, much like the British Empire. They may not plant their flag or change the currency but when you have 800 USA bases in over 80 countries and you can dictate what currency someone sells their oil in and when you use the economic and financial banking system to cripple countries and you push which leaders you wish to control a country, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and now Venezuela, I feel it is Western Imperialism with a modern twist.</div>
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In Ireland we suffered our own Colonialism for over 800 years. Ironically, it was the American/Irish that put pressure on the British Empire to give the Republic of Ireland its freedom. So as Irish people to-day we must question our own morals and look to the future and wonder how our children will judge us. Were we the people who facilitated the mass movement of weapons, political prisoners, civilians, through Shannon Airport, to facilitate Imperial powers to slaughter the people in far off lands, and for what end so that Google, Facebook, Microsoft, will continue to provide jobs in Ireland? How much blood of women and children, has been spilt overseas? How many countries have we, by facilitating USA/NATO forces going through Shannon Airport, helped to destroy? So I ask the people of Ireland, how does this sit with you? I have visited Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Syria and seen the devastation and destruction caused by military intervention in these countries. I believe it is time to abolish militarism and solve our problems through International Law,mediation, dialogue and negotiations. As an allegedly neutral country it is important that the Irish Government ensures that Shannon Airport is used for civilian purposes and not used to facilitate US military occupations, invasions, renditions, and war purposes. The Irish people strongly support neutrality but this is being negated by the use of Shannon airport by US Military.</div>
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Ireland and the Irish people are much loved and respected around the world and seen as a country that has contributed much to the development of many countries, particularly through education, health care, arts and music. However, this history is endangered by the Government’s accommodating the US Military in Shannon Airport also by its participation in NATO-led forces such as ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) in Afghanistan.</div>
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Ireland’s neutrality places it in an important position and arising out of its experience in peace making and conflict resolution at home, it could be a Mediator in General and Complete Disarmament and conflict resolution, in other countries caught in the tragedy of violence and war. (It also has an important role in upholding the Good Friday agreement and helping with the restoration of the Stormont Parliament in the North of Ireland.}</div>
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I am very hopeful for the future as I believe if we can reject militarism in its entirety as the aberration/dysfunction it is in human history, and all of us who no matter what area of change we work in, can unite and agree we want to see a demilitarized unarmed world. We can do this together. Let us remember in human history, people abolished slavery, piracy, we can abolish militarism and war, and relegate these barbaric ways into the dustbin of history.</div>
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Peace,</div>
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Mairead Maguire (Nobel Peace Laureate) <a href="https://vcnv.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ad474c00c83953a2b8e225340&id=073b8e3e9e&e=7ab2a10cf9" rel="nofollow" style="color: #6dc6dd; overflow-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">www.peacepeople.com</a><br />
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Originally published at<br />
<a href="https://vcnv.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ad474c00c83953a2b8e225340&id=8defd95db6&e=7ab2a10cf9" rel="nofollow" style="color: #6dc6dd; overflow-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">https://worldbeyondwar.org/pathways-to-peace/</a><br />
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<img align="left" height="400" src="https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgallery.mailchimp.com%2Fad474c00c83953a2b8e225340%2Fimages%2Ff49dc419-8d52-4409-b326-983e9a8e3fe5.jpg&t=1570710617&ymreqid=fc0ba827-1dfc-e0a4-1c1e-050001014c00&sig=GbqBAl_672KLtZ.QAYDxOA--~C" style="border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; min-height: 400px; outline: none; text-indent: -9999px; width: 400px;" width="400" /></h1>
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<strong>Hope in a Time Like Ours: Brian Terrell’s remarks at #NoWar2019</strong></h3>
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Limerick, Ireland, October 5, 2019</div>
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I am honored and humbled to be addressing this gathering at this perilous moment, especially as I am here in place of Kathy Kelly, who sends her love and her regrets that she can’t be here. Mairead just cited Dorothy Day as an influence in her life- Dorothy took me in when I was a teenage dropout long ago. I stayed at the Catholic Worker in New York for four years and this made all the difference in my life.</div>
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The stark reality that we are facing, even the imminent threat of extinction, cannot be clearer than it is today and our work cannot be more crucial.</div>
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Just short of 18 years ago, on October 7, 2001, B-2 Stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri were the first U.S. forces to invade Afghanistan, dropping bombs over Kabul. Despite the fact that no Afghans were involved in and very few Afghans were even aware of the terrible events in New York and Washington three weeks before, only one member of the U.S. Congress voted against authorizing this aggression, Representative Barbara Lee, who counseled that by going to war, the U.S. might “become the evil that we deplore.”</div>
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Vice-President Richard Cheney made a similar prediction, that the war that began that day “may never end” but would “become a permanent part of the way we live.” “The way I think of it is, it’s a new normalcy,” Cheney told reporters, intimating that plans were being made to spread the war to forty to fifty other countries. The same future of permanent war that Rep. Lee warned against as a dystopian horror, Vice President Cheney optimistically hailed as a bright new era of unlimited opportunities.</div>
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18 years later, with the same 2001 authorization of use of force that devastated Kabul still in place, the U.S. military is conducting so-called “counterterror” activities in 76 countries and the war has exceeded both Lee’s and Cheney’s expectations. As Pope Francis has pointed out, World War III has already begun, “spread out in small pockets everywhere… fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres and destruction.”</div>
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Our friend Hakim who is here with us has called the talks between the U.S. and the Taliban that imploded in Doha this summer a “cruel charade” that only pretended to offer a chance at peace. This global war that began with bombs over Kabul is not intended to be won, be resolved or even contained in any way, but is carried out for the purpose of perpetuating it. The cost of this war in deaths and in dollars and the fact that it is resulting in even more insecurity and more terrorism is not lost on those who stand to profit from it.</div>
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Today there is a growing recognition of the connections between war and the environment, too often ignored or denied by earlier generations of environmentalists, and this is a good thing, as war is the driving force of climate disruption. The extinction of our species, it might be said, is already going on, in the margins, and the thousands dying now in the war that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are waging against Yemen for dwindling oil reserves are among the victims of climate change already. Decades of progress toward nuclear disarmament are being reversed, now as trillions of dollars are being robbed and spent on developing the next generation of nuclear bombs. The world is in the throes of what Dr. King called “the fierce urgency of now.”</div>
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The climate activist Greta Thunberg refuses to be labeled either as an optimist or a pessimist. “I am a realist,” she insists. “If we do the change that is required, then we will prevent this from happening and we will succeed. But if we don’t, then there will be horrible consequences.”</div>
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Believing that it is possible for human beings to live at peace with each other and the world, to share resources equitably, and convert to sustainable and renewable energy, is not a utopian dream and it never has been. A world without war and exploitation is the only option. It is the hard, cold, reality that the world needs to face today. It represents the ultimate pragmatism. The belief that many cling to against all evidence, that the world can go on pretty much as it has without drastic changes, is an unrealistic dream, a conceit that will be the end of us if we can’t wake from it. What Dr. King said 50 years ago, that the choice is not between nonviolence and violence, but rather between nonviolence and nonexistence is coming to fruit in our time. Our theme this morning is “Nonviolence: The Foundation of Peace,” but nonviolence will also be the foundation human existence, if human existence is to have any future worth considering.</div>
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While optimism might be a useless or even a dangerous distraction in our times, I still hold out for hope, but real hope never comes easy or cheap. “Hope is something you need to deserve,” Thunberg has said, “you have actually done something.”</div>
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In 1959, in a rare cold war correspondence between two poets, Thomas Merton in the U.S. and Czselaw Milosz in Poland, Merton also warned against optimism and cheap hope: “If [we] are not nearly in despair there is something the matter. … We should all feel near to despair in some sense because this semi-despair is the normal form taken by hope in a time like ours. Hope without any sensible or tangible evidence on which to rest. Hope in spite of the sickness that fills us. Hope married to a firm refusal to accept any palliatives or anything that cheats hope by pretending to relieve apparent despair. Hope must mean acceptance of limitations and imperfections and the deceitfulness of a nature that has been wounded and cheated. We cannot enjoy the luxury of a hope based on our own integrity, our own honesty, our own purity of heart.”</div>
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It has been said, too, that people don’t act because they have hope, but they have hope because they act. We have hope if we deserve it and each of us need to find our own way to hope. It has been my privilege to be able to spend some time in places and with communities of people in crisis, among those most endangered by economic exploitation, war and climate collapse, places where hope has no “sensible or tangible evidence on which to rest,” but it is in these places and with these people that I have found hope, just as the most privileged, educated and powerful people on the planet are also often the most clueless and helpless.</div>
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“Social betterment,” Gandhi insisted, “never comes from parliaments, or pulpits, but from direct action in the streets, from the courts, jails and sometimes even the gallows.” Nonviolent direct action, as taught to us by Jesus, Gandhi, the walkers and peace volunteers in Afghanistan, to name a few, is the most realistic and practical hope for the world today.</div>
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<em>Brian Terrell (<a href="mailto:brian@vcnv.org" rel="nofollow" style="color: #6dc6dd; overflow-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank" ymailto="mailto:brian@vcnv.org">brian@vcnv.org)</a> is a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (<a href="https://vcnv.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ad474c00c83953a2b8e225340&id=1429533441&e=7ab2a10cf9" rel="nofollow" style="color: #6dc6dd; overflow-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">www.vcnv.org</a>)</em><br />
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<em>Photo Credit: Ellen Davidson </em></div>
Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-70386908021626410462019-10-08T09:51:00.000-05:002019-10-08T09:51:25.757-05:00The future is now. Youth leaders speak out.This piece is re-posted from medium.com<br />
And included in the work to reverse climate change must be curbing US militarism, a major cause of environmental destruction around the world. Human beings are capable of nonviolent conflict resolution, in ways big and small. Just as these youth leaders are showing, policy change must rely on diplomacy and active nonviolence, not military force. <br />
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The Future Has It’s Eyes On You: The Time for Urgent Climate Action is Now.</h1>
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<a class="aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ii bc bd be bf" href="https://medium.com/@youthvsapocalypse/the-future-has-its-eyes-on-you-the-time-for-urgent-climate-action-is-now-32a7bc9d878e?source=post_page-----32a7bc9d878e----------------------" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; fill: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Oct 7</a> · 3 min read</div>
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<em class="kg" style="box-sizing: inherit;">by Aidyn, age 12, Oakland, CA</em></div>
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<img alt="" class="ey n o ex af kw kx mg mh" height="641" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/60/1*515kSmRblm8yaUseqLEcQA.jpeg?q=20" style="box-sizing: inherit; filter: blur(20px); height: 454.031px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transform: scale(1.1); transition: visibility 0ms ease 400ms; vertical-align: middle; visibility: hidden; width: 680px;" width="960" /></div>
<img alt="" class="me mf ey n o ex af ev" height="641" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/960/1*515kSmRblm8yaUseqLEcQA.jpeg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; height: 454.031px; left: 0px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle; width: 680px;" width="960" /></div>
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<figcaption class="bl dm kz la gr ck ci cj lb lc bg dl" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.54); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 728px; text-align: center;">Asorahfay, age 12, leads a march of an estimated twenty thousand youth and allies Photo by: Brooke Anderson</figcaption></figure><div class="js jt fa bh ju b jv jw jx jy jz ka kb kc kd ke kf" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1efd" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.004em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-top: 2em;">
Growing up, I had no idea what climate change was. Two years ago, when I was in sixth grade, I learned the truth. I learned about fossil fuels, I learned about the rising sea levels, and about the future I would have to live in.</div>
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<span class="ju ld" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Can you imagine the panic in a 12 year old’s mind when they realize that their future is in danger, and the adults had time to save it?</span> My stomach still turns thinking about it. I can’t count the number of nights I have stayed up just thinking about it.</div>
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Can you imagine how nerve-wracking it is to talk to government officials with power over the air you breathe, when you’re only twelve years old? Can you imagine what it feels like having to comfort your six-year-old brother, trying to reassure him that climate change won’t kill him? Imagine hugging a child, and listing ways they can help the planet just so they can fall asleep.</div>
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Can you imagine what it’s like to go to a CalSTRS board meeting to lobby for fossil fuel divestment and be told that your comments won’t be recorded because you are under 18? You might feel like no one’s gonna hear you. You’ll just be silenced.</div>
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<span class="ju ld" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">As youth, we are constantly silenced. But we won’t be anymore.</span></div>
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<figcaption class="bl dm kz la gr ck ci cj lb lc bg dl" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.54); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 728px; text-align: center;">The Youth-Led Climate Strike in SF on 9/20/19</figcaption></figure><div class="js jt fa bh ju b jv jw jx jy jz ka kb kc kd ke kf" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d8ae" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.004em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-top: 2em;">
What do you do when you are silenced and those in power won’t listen to you? For me and other climate strikers around the world, we strike. We protest. We chant at the top of our lungs, until someone starts to hear us. If disrupting the peace is the only way you’ll listen, then so be it. We won’t let you go about your business as usual as our future disappears before our eyes.</div>
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Those of you who have been sitting this struggle out: you can’t ignore the constant signs of global catastrophe anymore. What will you say to your great-grandchildren when they ask you what Earth was like when you were younger? What should I tell my grandchildren, when they are coughing up smoke from a burning planet? Of course I’ll tell them I did everything I could. I’ll tell them I spoke truth to power, even when power didn’t want to listen. But what will you say? Did you really do everything you could? If you haven’t yet, what can you do now?</div>
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This is why the climate strikes are so important: when we all stand together, we can’t be ignored. There’s something thrilling about marching with thousands of youth for the same cause. Something thrilling about knowing that in some way, you are fighting for what many adults refuse to acknowledge.</div>
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<figcaption class="bl dm kz la gr ck ci cj lb lc bg dl" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.54); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 728px; text-align: center;">Hannah, age 16, leads the march in SF on 9/20/19 Photo by: Brooke Anderson</figcaption></figure><div class="js jt fa bh ju b jv jw jx jy jz ka kb kc kd ke kf" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="cf19" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.004em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: -0.46em; margin-top: 2em;">
On Friday September 20th, an estimated 20,000 youth strikers along with adult supporters, marched in San Francisco. This was the Global Climate Strike, and alongside us there were 4 million people also striking across the world. On Friday September 27th, we held our climate strike at Chevron, to demand that they stop killing our planet and polluting frontline communities. In the week as a whole, more than 7 million people took action to fight for climate justice. The action was empowering and gained so much attention from around the world.</div>
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But the crisis is not over. Join us. You are also responsible. When future generations look into their history books, which side of history will you be on? Just remember, the future has its eyes on you.</div>
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<img alt="" class="me mf ey n o ex af ev" height="641" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/960/1*GcXh28ssgb1F5W8_IUoUeQ.jpeg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; height: 454.031px; left: 0px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle; width: 680px;" width="960" /></div>
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<figcaption class="bl dm kz la gr ck ci cj lb lc bg dl" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.54); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 728px; text-align: center;">Protestors challenge us to act, Photo by Brooke Anderson</figcaption></figure>Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-18826695996950957052019-09-28T16:19:00.000-05:002019-09-28T16:19:05.354-05:00Healing the planet means ending militarismCheck out this video produced by the National Network Opposed to the Militarization of Youth. The exciting movement galvanizing young persons today in working for a Green New Deal and addressing human-made climate crises must include stopping the militarization of our planet. The US military, in its spread of some 800 bases around the world, is the earth's single largest institutional polluter. Reversing climate change and preserving our planet's natural resources must go hand in hand with stopping war and the preparation for war.<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vd_3rWJ6Aw4/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vd_3rWJ6Aw4?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<br />Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-78145061390833623082019-09-21T12:04:00.000-05:002019-09-21T12:04:19.190-05:00Austin Climate Strike!Great turnout for the Austin Climate Strike yesterday at the TX State Capitol -- organized by students! Millions rallied and marched worldwide in defense of the planet. We can't have a healthy planet without stopping war and militarism. <br />
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<br />Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-49860519477894816372019-09-11T16:42:00.000-05:002019-09-11T16:42:01.467-05:00Let the students climate strike!from Common Dreams today:<br />
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<span itemprop="mainEntityOfPage" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Amnesty International Chief's Plea to 30,000+ Schools Worldwide: Let the Students Climate Strike!</span></h1>
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"Children should not be punished for speaking out about the great injustices of our age."</div>
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<span class="pb-byline" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/jessica-corbett-staff-writer" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Jessica Corbett, staff writer</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://commons.commondreams.org/t/amnesty-international-chiefs-plea-to-30-000-schools-worldwide-let-the-students-climate-strike/67751" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: white; font-family: Arial, san-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="fa fa-comment" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span> <span class="comment-count" style="box-sizing: inherit;">20</span> Comments</a></div>
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Kumi Naidoo, then-executive director of Greenpeace International, attended the World Economic Forum in 2013. (Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/8407465243" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">World Economic Forum</a>/Flickr/cc)</div>
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In a personal plea sent to tens of thousands of schools around the world Wednesday, Amnesty International secretary general Kumi Naidoo <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/amnesty-chief-urges-schools-to-let-children-take-part-in-climate-strikes/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">called on</a> educators and administrators to allow students to join global climate strikes later this month.</div>
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"The climate emergency is the defining human rights issue for this generation of children."<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />—Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International</div>
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"I believe that the cause for which these children are fighting is of such historic significance that I am writing to you today with a request to neither prevent nor punish your pupils from taking part in the global days of strikes planned for September 20 and 27," wrote Naidoo, whose letter has been sent to school officials in Canada, Hungary, Spain, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.</div>
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Inspired by the Fridays for Future school strikes that launched last year—for which students worldwide have taken to the streets to demand that governments pursue more ambitious climate policies—campaigners of all ages have registered <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/06/two-weeks-until-globalclimatestrike-organizing-intensifies-100-countries-win-livable" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">thousands of events</a> across the globe that coincide with an upcoming United Nations climate summit in New York City. The week of action will be bookended by the strikes Naidoo mentioned in his letter.</div>
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"The climate emergency is the defining human rights issue for this generation of children," wrote the leader of the world's largest human rights group. "Its consequences will shape their lives in almost every way imaginable. The failure of most governments to act in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence is arguably the biggest inter-generational human rights violation in history."</div>
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"By taking part in these protests, children are exercising their human rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and to have a say in decisions and matters that affect their lives," he continued. "In doing so, they are teaching us all a valuable lesson: the importance of coming together to campaign for a better future."</div>
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Naidoo has long history of campaigning for social justice issues. He <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/12/21/amnesty-international-appoints-kumi-naidoo-next-secretary-general" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">became</a> the head of Amnesty in December of 2017, after serving as executive director of the global environmental organization Greenpeace International. In his letter to schools, Naidoo recalled his experience being expelled at age 15 for organizing an anti-apartheid protest at his school in Durban, South Africa.</div>
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This setback redoubled my commitment to learning, and thankfully I was able to complete my studies and ultimately take up the role I have the honor of holding today. But I also had something that children of this generation do not have: the chance to imagine a future that is not overshadowed by the prospect of a climate emergency.</div>
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My experience also informed my strong belief that children should not be punished for speaking out about the great injustices of our age. In fact, when it has fallen on young people to show the leadership that many adults who hold great positions of power have failed to, it is not young people's behavior we should be questioning. It is ours.</div>
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Naidoo returned to his home country this week to attend <a href="https://financingthefuture.global/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">Financing the Future</a>, a historic divest-invest summit in Cape Town that began Tuesday—which came after Amnesty's Global Assembly <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/08/05/amnesty-international-votes-divest-fossil-fuel-companies" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">voted</a> last month to divest from the dirty energy industry.</div>
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"Every person facing deeper levels of drought, stronger hurricanes, or conflict has been wronged by these fossil fuel companies," Naidoo <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/09/people-power-winning-fossil-fuel-divestment-movement-celebrates-11-trillion" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a> Monday. "Their rights to health, water, food, housing, and even life have been harmed, which is why Amnesty International has decided to divest from fossil fuel companies."</div>
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Like the climate strikes, the global divestment movement began with young people. A report released Monday by 350.org and DivestInvest detailing divestment commitments worldwide <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/09/people-power-winning-fossil-fuel-divestment-movement-celebrates-11-trillion" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: inherit; color: #336699; text-decoration-line: none;">noted</a> that "what began as a moral call to action by students is now a mainstream financial response to growing climate risk to portfolios, the people, and the planet."</div>
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Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-17231688929417953612019-08-26T16:57:00.001-05:002019-08-26T16:57:26.582-05:00Reminder: AISD policy limiting access to students by military recruitersThe 2019 - 2020 school year is beginning, and we remind all AISD teachers, staff, students, parents and military recruiters that AISD has a policy that places limits on access to students by military recruiters. Please note especially that recruiters are not allowed to ask students directly for their contact information (point 8, below). If recruiters want to hand a student their card, fine, but they should not ask students to write down their phone numbers. If school staff or students see recruiters getting phone numbers from students or violating any of the other guidelines in the policy, this should be reported to the school principal.<br />
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Here is the AISD policy that applies to all military recruiters in Austin's public schools:<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">GKC (Local) AISD Policy regarding
military recruiters on AISD campuses:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
following guidelines shall apply to recruiters on District campuses: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>1. All recruiters shall first report to the campus main
office to obtain a visitor’s badge each time they visit school property.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>2. The principal shall designate specific areas on each
campus for recruiting purposes. Recruiting may not occur at school athletic
events or other school-sponsored events, unless specifically authorized by the
principal. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>3. Recruiters shall not continue ongoing contact when a
student makes it clear by speech or other conduct that contact with the
recruiter is unwelcome. In no event may recruiters meet with a student under
the age of 18 years off campus without written consent submitted to a campus
administrator by the student’s parent or guardian. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>4. Evidence of a parent’s or guardian’s intent to provide
directory information upon request shall be respected. [See FL] <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>5. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)
test shall be administered according to the same terms and conditions as other
aptitude tests administered within the District. District schools shall select
“Option 8” on the ASVAB test prior to the administration of the ASVAB at the
school to ensure consistency with the opt-out provisions for release of contact
information to the military. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>6. Recruiting of any kind shall not be permitted at a time,
place, and manner that disrupts classroom instruction. Recruiting in a
classroom or other designated space shall be acceptable if it is at the
invitation of authorized school personnel and part of a school-approved
program. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>7. Schools shall allow information regarding recruiting,
including recruiting by the military and those advocating alternatives to the
military, to be made available to students in an equivalent manner and
location. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>8. Recruiters shall not solicit student contact information
directly from a student or require such information as a condition to
participate in an activity or to receive an award or gift.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>If a visitor fails to comply with the general rules or
guidelines set out in this policy, the principal or other campus administrator
may deny the visitor access to the campus in accordance with law. If a military
recruiter fails to comply with the guidelines set out in this policy, the
principal or other campus administrator may contact the military recruiter's
supervisor to report the failure to comply and request that such individual not
return to the campus.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<b> </b>Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-46633307355594839972019-07-11T19:50:00.000-05:002019-07-11T19:50:04.099-05:00Veterans for Peace and Rock Valley FOR March Forward!Loved seeing this video of the Veterans for Peace and Rock Valley Fellowship of Reconciliation entry, along with the Forward! Marching Band in the July 4 parade in Milton, Wisconsin. Progressive people reside everywhere!<br />
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<span id="goog_1413857117"></span><span id="goog_1413857118"></span><br />Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-79954301622744504502019-07-01T19:17:00.000-05:002019-07-01T19:17:53.611-05:00SOY and Truth in Recruitment featured in "In These Times" articleThanks to journalist, Elizabeth King, for <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/article/21937/war-military-counter-recruitment-education-schools-youth?fbclid=IwAR1_WjYqbkuzPLVOOBByn_-JAkOTdd6EO287kQRFsbc8WDrZaw5s3YkmniM">this story</a> published in the online version of "In These Times" magazine on June 27, 2019. The piece features SOY and also Truth in Recruitment in Santa Barbara, CA.<br />
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Why We Still Need a Movement to Keep Youth From Joining the Military</h1>
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A scrappy counter-recruitment movement is trying to starve the military of labor.</div>
<span class="author" style="border: 0px; color: #626366; display: block; font-family: tablet-gothic-narrow; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 14px; margin: 5px 0px 3px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">BY <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/community/profile/323240" style="border: 0px; color: #626366; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">ELIZABETH KING</a></span><br />
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Eighteen is the youngest age at which someone can join the U.S. military without their parents’ permission, yet the military markets itself to—which is to say recruits—children at much younger ages. This is in part accomplished by military recruiters who visit high schools around the country, recruiting children during career fairs and often setting up recruitment tables in cafeterias and hallways. As a result, most students in the U.S. will meet a military recruiter for the first time at just 17 years old, and children are getting exposed to <a href="https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/03/27/most-american-youth-first-meet-a-recruiter-at-17-but-the-army-wants-to-start-younger/" style="border: 0px; color: #d12e28; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">military propaganda younger and younger</a>.</div>
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The recruitment of young people to the military is as old as the military itself, and has become more and more normalized along with the general militarization of schools. According to the <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/prevalence-police-officers-us-schools" style="border: 0px; color: #d12e28; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">Urban Institute</a>, more than two-thirds of public high school students attend schools where there are “school resource officers,” a name for school-based police. This police presences comes on top of the role of military recruiters on campuses, or at college and career fairs. </div>
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Counter-recruitment surged in popularity during George W. Bush’s Iraq War, when the U.S. military ratcheted up recruitment for the war. But these days you don’t hear much about this movement, despite the fact that the U.S. is still engaged in brutal wars, from Yemen to Afghanistan, and the Trump administration has been threatening war with Iran. Out of the spotlight, dedicated counter-recruiters around the country are steadfast in their organizing to cut off the human supply chain to the U.S. military. U.S. wars have caused innumerable deaths, created long-term hardships in occupied nations, and cost trillions of dollars. Counter-recruitment, then, is about starving the military of the labor it needs to accomplish these destructive missions. When working with students, parents and school leadership, counter-recruiters focus on a variety of issues, including the negative personal consequences that come with being a soldier and broader problems like racism and U.S. imperialism.</div>
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Kate Connell, the director of the California counter-recruitment organization <a href="https://truthinrecruitment.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #d12e28; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">Truth in Recruitment</a>, a parent, and a Quaker, tells <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In These Times</em> that one reason counter-recruitment efforts are so overlooked these days is that U.S. casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan have fallen out of the news. “I think that's kind of what got people concerned and out in the streets” in the past, she says. Though this movement doesn’t get as much attention these days, organizers and activists say that counter-recruitment efforts remain critically important.</div>
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For the most part, activists who do counter-recruitment work in schools focus on matching or exceeding military recruiters in face-time with kids. Thanks to the <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2002/11/no-child-unrecruited/" style="border: 0px; color: #d12e28; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">No Child Left Behind Act</a>, military recruiters are required to have the same level of access to students as college and career professionals who recruit in schools.</div>
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Hart Viges, a U.S. Army veteran who has been volunteering in counter-recruitment for around a decade and works with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SOYPeaceOptions/" style="border: 0px; color: #d12e28; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">Sustainable Options for Youth-Austin</a> (SOY-Austin), says his role is to educate children using interactive tabling in schools. The group brings t-shirts and a “peace wheel” the students can spin to learn more facts about the military. Children also get to discuss how they’d like taxpayer dollars spent. For example, they might discuss whether they want to spend billions on war, or allocate that money elsewhere. Viges is blunt with them about what life will be like after time spent in the military.</div>
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“I ask them, ‘Do you like fireworks?’” Viges says. When they respond yes, he explains, “you won’t like them anymore” after coming back from a war. He tells them the realities of living with post-traumatic stress disorder brought about by combat, and how it does lasting damage to veterans. Being real with children about the military has proven effective for Viges. “There's so many wins in counter recruitment I feel,” he adds. “I talk to kids who are thinking about joining and I tell them the realities of it, and you can see their minds start to change… With politicians it's like a stalemate, but counter-recruitment is like a punch in the gut that will topple the military industrial complex.” Hart also talks to children about other issues connected to the military industrial complex that concerns them, such as war in general, racism, sexism and <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-military-is-a-bigger-polluter-than-as-many-as-140-countries-shrinking-this-war-machine-is-a-must-119269" style="border: 0px; color: #d12e28; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">climate change</a>.</div>
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Youth are active in this work, too. Jenny, a 16-year-old incoming junior at Santa Maria High School in California, interns with Truth in Recruitment. She tells <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In These Times</em> that she got involved with the organization after a friend told her it would be a good way to stand up for herself and her peers who are frequently visited by military recruiters at school.</div>
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When she started high school, Jenny says she noticed that the military recruiters frequented her school, but other opportunities for students post-high school were not well represented. “I thought this was a problem, especially since the majority of us are students of color and I thought that we were being disproportionately targeted because we are people of color,” she says.</div>
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Angel further notes that many students at her school are undocumented, and she noticed that military recruiters were telling her peers distorted information about the benefits of military service based on their undocumented status. She says that after speaking to military recruiters, a number of her peers have said that they were promised they would get U.S. citizenship if they served in the military. While there is some pathway for non-citizens who serve in the military to become naturalized, this is not a guaranteed benefit. In fact, the U.S. government has a history of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/us/us-veteran-deported-to-mexico/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #d12e28; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">deporting foreign nationals</a> who were employed by the military. “I always have to correct them because I don't want them to join and not know the full truth about it,” Angel says. “We wouldn't be seeing these things at schools rich, white students attend.”</div>
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The military does, in fact, tend to recruit in poor and working class communities, especially among Black and Latinx youth. The strategy of targeting poor, working-class, and Black and Latinx people for military conscription is known as the “poverty draft.” The tactics of this strategy can be seen in military recruitment efforts at schools like Santa Maria High School where Angel attends, and is evident in studies on the socioeconomic status of people who fought in recent US wars. According to a <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2823978" style="border: 0px; color: #d12e28; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">2016 study</a> out of Boston University and the University of Minnesota Law School, “Today, unlike in World War II, the Americans who die or are wounded in war are disproportionately coming from poorer parts of the country.”</div>
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Connell, the Truth in Recruitment director, says that the tactics used by military recruiters on children are “very much a grooming process.” She notes that branches of the military operate <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30513702/ns/us_news-military/t/pentagon-targets-recruits-facebook-twitter/#.XQ1oMLfYp0o" style="border: 0px; color: #d12e28; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">social media</a> accounts, where they will follow and communicate with students who are potentially interested in joining up. In this way, recruiters have direct, unsupervised access to young teens, who may or not be discussing recruitment efforts with trusted adults in their lives. This type of behavior, Connell says, is “inappropriate.”</div>
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Still, the presence of the military in schools has become normalized. “I feel that the idea that the military is an untouchable subject as far as criticism or cutting the budget, [makes counter-recruitment] a really tricky conversation to have, so people avoid it.” The institutional power and not to mention funding and broad support that the military has makes counter-recruitment a challenge.</div>
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But the group has seen concrete results from their organizing and advocacy. Working with students, parents, and school and district leadership in Santa Barbara in 2014, Truth in Recruitment was able to convince the district to create better resources for parents to more easily opt their students out of having their information shared with military recruiters.</div>
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Though counter-recruitment is perhaps not as prominent as it was more than a decade ago, organizers in this field are unequivocal about the need to support students by offering alternatives to the military, such as college or the workforce. As the military continues to target children, especially in low-income and Black and Latinx communities, counter-recruiters will continue to work with children and their care-takers to offer safer, more dignified options for life after high school.</div>
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Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641663493760922680.post-61811511764145168312019-05-31T11:12:00.000-05:002019-05-31T11:12:04.135-05:00Veterans and family members speak: The US Army is not healthy for children and other living thingsThanks to Chrissy Kirchhoefer of the <a href="http://www.nwtrcc.org/">National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee</a> for this blog post about the US Army's Memorial Day tweet storm:<br />
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Military Members Speak Out On Memorial Day</h1>
<time class="updated" datetime="2019-05-30T13:05:51-05:00" pubdate="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">May 30th, 2019</time> | <a href="https://nwtrcc.org/topics/media/" rel="category tag" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Media</a>,<a href="https://nwtrcc.org/topics/national/" rel="category tag" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">National</a>,<a href="https://nwtrcc.org/topics/news/" rel="category tag" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">News</a>,<a href="https://nwtrcc.org/topics/nuclear/" rel="category tag" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Nuclear</a>,<a href="https://nwtrcc.org/topics/real-life-stories/" rel="category tag" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Real Life Stories</a></header><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: #f2f2eb; box-sizing: border-box; color: #282828; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica; font-size: 18.5372px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">This year at Memorial day, Veterans were sharing their stories about war, their time in the military and how the military has impacted both physical and mental health. While Memorial Day has been a holiday commemorating those killed and forever silenced by war, Veterans who survived wars were talking about their experiences over the weekend. Many people involved in the military and those close to them were speaking publicly about the horrific experiences of war after the Army asked <a href="https://twitter.com/usarmy/status/1131704927963766785" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">how the military has influenced them on Twitter</a>. </span></div>
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On Memorial Day, a story was released about Atomic Soldiers who spoke about their exposure to atomic weapons after 50 years. The Atlantic shared a short documentary, The Atomic Soldiers which contains some of the interviews with 100 veterans exposed to ionizing radiation from tests conducted by the US military. The video’s creator, Morgan Knibbe wanted to share the story of the 400,000 troops who were exposed to over 1,000 nuclear tests between 1942-1992 and the impacts upon them. For many it was the first time that they spoke about their experiences. <a href="ttps://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/590299/atomic-soldiers/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwAR3GWvlub0sJfG7r-zEbjL0n1tAtIeOkyWspx7Vy2XjacikZNrTBrY-jpg8" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">In the video it mentions that after the tests, the soldiers, many of whom were traumatized, were sworn to an oath of secrecy. Breaking it even to talk among themselves was considered treason, punishable by a $10,000 fine and 10 or more years in prison.</a></div>
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Many in the video spoke about the orders they received about never being able to speak about their experience of witnessing atomic explosions not even with each other and the fear of a charge of treason that could lead to their execution. <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The conditioning of soldiers to not speak about their experiences led many to take their stories to their grave. Much of the information around the nuclear tests remains classified including the human and environmental impacts of the testing. The ban prohibiting veterans from </span>speaking about their experiences with radiation exposure was lifted in 1994 yet many were unaware that it was lifted.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The pattern of not speaking about military experiences hopefully has now become a thing of the past. The social stigma associated with speaking about the personal impact of war on military members and their loved ones has been decreasing over the years for many. We are becoming more aware of the benefits of people being able to talk about and publicly share their stories especially with more platforms available. There are more resources for mental health services for veterans compared with 50 years ago. Yet the personal impact of war has also seemed to have increased in recent years with over 6,000 veterans who have died from suicide from 2008-2016 and close to 25% of women in the military reporting sexual assaults. <a href="https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1245617001?fbclid=IwAR3FP-qao94nNXc9LT2F0YpKM6eWRKjcVMt3GRJwxVJPRKiOOYc5ngWaQ24" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">USA Today reports</a> that only half of veterans receive Veterans Affairs benefits or services. </span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">After sharing a short video of one soldier of his experiences in the the military, the Army asked people to share on Twitter how the military has affected them. The response was unexpected and became for many a platform to share their heartbreaking tales of how people they loved were affected by their participation in war. It was a sober look at war. Many of the response were<a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-26/army-virtue-tweet-backfires-1000s-expose-heartbreaking-horrors-war?fbclid=IwAR1Wkfwd4M2xQzSMB68bW2LI3ZlIjaxx99OT7CHUMT0bYJVQ3KQ-AW1u-fA" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"> brutally frank</a>. </span></div>
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The media reported on the the stories over the holiday weekend; with 10,000 responses it seemed people were eager to speak. The New York Times reported <a href="https://nyti.ms/2JLsltt" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Instead, the call-out provided what some felt was a rare platform to spotlight the darker consequences of military service for soldiers and their families, as tweet after tweet described lifelong health complications, grief over loved ones lost, sexual assaults gone unpunished and struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression</a></div>
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One Soldier, Brandon Neely, stated that he knew more soldiers that had committed suicide in his unit than had died in combat. He also believed that many who were speaking on the Twitter thread had never shared their stories before. Through social media many were able to share their stories and those they had witnessed in real time. David Swanson with Win Without War was even calculating a win-US Army 0 and Internet 1 <a href="http://davidswanson.org/usarmytruth/?fbclid=IwAR2ees-mhdftYxW4SMkElftWWiVYZ6eQEJswor6uVVlkAlNDKJt6t0h2raI" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0d4e9a; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">in his article about the twitter storm</a>. His article highlights some of the 10,000 tweets shared over the weekend and concludes with a questionnaire for those considering military service.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer</em></span></div>
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<br />Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10500774562147215808noreply@blogger.com0